Four 1,900-year-old Roman swords found in cave in Israel
Archaeologists have found four Roman swords and a shafted weapon known as a pilum dating from 1,900 years ago in a cave near the shore of the ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Sea in Israel.
The rare cache of weapons was found in the En Gedi Nature Reserve, preserved in wooden and leather scabbards, according to a press statement from the Israel Antiquities Authority published Wednesday.
“Finding a single sword is rare—so four? It’s a dream! We rubbed our eyes to believe it,” the researchers said.
The weapons were probably war booty taken from the Roman army by Judean rebels, according to the authors of a research article published Wednesday in the book “New Studies in the Archaeology of the Judean Desert: Collected Papers.”
The first evidence—the pilum and pieces of worked wood that turned out to be scabbards—were found by chance in an isolated and inaccessible cave on cliffs by archaeologists studying a fragmentary ink inscription on a stalacтιтe.
Further investigation revealed four swords “in an almost inaccessible crevice on the upper level of the cave,” the statement said.
The “exceptionally well preserved” swords were found alongside pieces of leather, wood and metal. Three of the swords had iron blades inside wooden scabbards and measured 60-65 centimeters (24-26 inches) in length. The fourth was 45 centimeters (18 inches) long.
“The hiding of the swords and the pilum in deep cracks in the isolated cave north of ‘En Gedi, hints that the weapons were taken as booty from Roman soldiers or from the battlefield, and purposely hidden by the Judean rebels for reuse,” said Eitan Klein, one of the directors of the Judean Desert Survey Project.
