A group of researchers in Israel have discovered four exceptionally preserved Roman-era swords hidden in a cave overlooking the Dead Sea.
The weapons are believed to be roughly 1,900 years-old, from a time when Jewish rebels staged an uprising against the Roman Empire.
According to the Israel Antiquities Authority, it appears that the weapons were hidden by the Judean rebels after they were seized from the Roman army as booty.
The artifacts were discovered about two months ago in a small hidden cave located in an area of isolated and inaccessible cliffs in the Judean Desert Nature Reserve. A research team was taking photographs of an ancient inscription on a stalactite when one member spotted an extremely well-preserved, Roman pilum -- a shafted weapon -- in a deep narrow crevice. He also found pieces of worked wood in an adjacent niche that turned out to be parts of the swords' scabbards.
The researchers reported the discovery to the Israel Antiquities Authority Archaeological Survey Team, which is conducting a systematic scientific project in the Judean Desert caves. As part of the project, hundreds of caves have been investigated over the past six years and 24 archaeological excavations have been carried out in selected caves, with the aim of saving the archaeological remains from the hands of looters.
The Judean Desert Cave Survey team returned to the cave and carried out a meticulous survey of all the crevices in the rock, during which they were "astonished" to find the four Roman swords in an almost inaccessible crevice on the upper level of the cave.
The swords were "exceptionally well preserved," with well-fashioned handles made of wood or metal, and three were found with the iron blade inside wooden scabbards. Blades of three swords were 23-25 inches long -- their dimensions identifying them as Roman spatha swords. The fourth one was shorter with a 17 inch blade, identified as a ring-pommel sword.
The swords were carefully removed from the crevice in the rock and transferred to the Israel Antiquities Authority climate-controlled laboratories for preservation and conservation. An initial examination confirmed that these were standard swords employed by the Roman soldiers stationed in Judea in the Roman period.
"Obviously, the rebels did not want to be caught by the Roman authorities carrying these weapons," Dr. Eitan Klein, one of the directors of the Judean Desert Survey Project, said in a statement. "We are just beginning the research on the cave and the weapon cache discovered in it, aiming to try to find out who owned the swords, and where, when, and by whom they were manufactured. We will try to pinpoint the historical event that led to the caching of these weapons in the cave and determine whether it was at the time of the Bar Kokhba Revolt in 132–135 CE."
Following the discovery of the swords, the cave was excavated in its entirety, and artifacts dating to the Chalcolithic period (6,000 years ago) and the Roman period (2,000 years ago) were uncovered. At the entrance to the cave, a Bar-Kokhba bronze coin from the time of the Revolt was found, possibly pointing to the time when the cave served for concealing the weapons.
Preliminary findings on the swords have been published in a newly released book, "New Studies in the Archaeology of the Judean Desert: Collected Papers."