Cave of Horrors
Cave of Horror is the nickname given to a refuge cave that archaeologists have catalogued as Nahal Hever Cave 8 of the Judaean Desert, Israel, where the remains of Jewish refugees from the Bar Kokhba revolt were found.
Location
The cave lies in the cliffs towering from the south over the wadi known in Hebrew as Nahal Hever. Nearby, in the cliffs on the opposite side of the stream, is the Cave of Letters, where many documents from the Bar Kokhba revolt were uncovered.Description
The cave has 2 natural entrances - eastern and western - both opening onto a steep slope which is around 170 m above sea level, adjacent to an ancient path descending to waterholes and a waterfall. The cave extends roughly 60 m in length. Entering west would lead to a low passage which opens in a 4x4 cavity. From there it then leads to the main chamber which is about 20 m long, 4 m wide, and 4 m high. It then branches off into a narrow tunnel and a passage which culminates into an eastern opening.Discoveries
Bar Kokhba revolt
At the top of the cliff above the Cave of Horror were the ruins of a Roman camp, similar to the one found above the Cave of Letters.The skeletons of 40 men, women and children were discovered inside. Of the 40 dead the names of three are known, since inscribed potsherds bearing their names were found placed on their remains. Evidence suggests these individuals were Jewish rebels and their families who took refuge in the cave during the Bar Kohba Revolt who had ultimately died there.
In investigations following the first one by Yadin, a number of fragments of letters and writings were discovered in the cave, among them a number of Bar Kokhba coins and a Greek copy of the biblical Book of the Twelve, an already old scroll by the time it was brought into the cave since it was dated to 50-1 BC. Some 60 years later, in March 2021, archaeologists discovered new fragments belonging to the same scroll, a Greek translation of the Book of the Twelve, different from the Septuagint and with the name of God, Yahweh, written in Old Hebrew script among the otherwise Greek text. The newly discovered fragments, which belong to the Books of Zechariah and Nahum, contain surprising variations compared to the Masoretic Text commonly used today. No scroll fragments had been discovered by archaeologists in the previous approximately 60 years.