Ein Gedi (archaeological site)


Ein Gedi was an ancient settlement located in the Judaean Desert, along the western shore of the Dead Sea. In antiquity, it was an important Jewish settlement. The remains of the settlement are part of an archaeological park situated in southern Israel.
Ein Gedi is frequently mentioned in the Bible, in the works of Josephus, in rabbinic literature, and in early Christian sources. The site was inhabited during different periods, and the earliest activity dates to the Chalcolithic period. The ruins, including a 6th-century synagogue, testify to a continuous Jewish settlement in the area between the 5th century BCE to the 7th century CE.
Adjacent to the archaeological park is the Ein Gedi Nature Reserve, a national park known for its oasis, waterfalls, and walking trails. To the south lies modern Ein Gedi, a kibbutz established in 1954. The site was excavated in the 20th century.

History and archaeology

Chalcolithic

A Chalcolithic temple belonging to the Ghassulian culture was excavated on the slope between two springs, Ein Shulamit and Ein Gedi. More Chalcolithic finds were made at the Moringa and Mikveh Caves. The archaeologists did not discover a settlement associated with the temple. Roi Porat who discovered the Chaloclithic activity in Moringa Cave believes it to be indicative of a nearby settlement. However, David Ussishkin – who excavated at the temple – disagreed saying "had there been a Chalcolithic settlement in Ein Gedi, its remains would have been detected long ago".
Though there is no evidence of Bronze Age settlement at Ein Gedi.

Iron Age

In the 7th century BCE, or possibly even earlier under King Hezekiah, the Kingdom of Judah began to expand into the Judaean Desert. As part of this expansion, a small outpost was established near the oasis of Ein Gedi, which remained active during the first half of the 7th century BCE. The high standard of the structure suggests that the outpost was likely commissioned by the monarchy. The site, consisting of the remains of a stone platform, is thought to be the foundation of a tower or, according to another interpretation, a cultic site similar to the biblical bamah. This early evidence of Judahite presence in Ein Gedi may be linked to a Hebrew inscription on a stalagmite at Naḥal Yishai, 1.2 km northeast of the Ein Gedi spring, dating to the same period.
Around the mid-7th century BCE, the focus of activity in Ein Gedi shifted from the small outpost to a new settlement at Tel Goren, represented by Stratum V at the site. Some scholars suggest that there is enough evidence to support the establishment of this settlement as early as the late 8th century BCE. This development was likely driven by new economic opportunities arising from the Dead Sea's natural resources, including salt, bitumen, and the cultivation of valuable crops for food and possibly perfume. Around this period, Ein Gedi became an important center for cultivating the highly prized Judean date palms, possibly encouraged by the Neo-Assyrian Empire, which held hegemony over Judah. Two personal seals, likely from the time of Josiah, were found at the site, one belonging to 'Uriyahu, Azarayhu.' Two other names are also attested in remains from this period.
The Iron Age settlement flourished as a key economic hub throughout the final century of the Kingdom of Judah. The village was destroyed just before the Babylonian captivity, possibly due to an Edomite raid. Archaeological evidence suggests it was destroyed around 582 BCE.

Ein Gedi in the Bible

In, Ein Gedi is enumerated among the wilderness cities of the Tribe of Judah in the desert of Betharaba, and in, it is prophesied that one day, its coastal location will make it into a fishing village, after the water of the Dead Sea has been made sweet:
Fleeing from King Saul, David hides in the strongholds at Ein Gedi and Saul seeks him "even upon the most craggy rocks, which are accessible only to wild goats". Psalm 63, subtitled a Psalm of David when he was in the wilderness of Judah, has been associated with David's sojourn in the desert of En-gedi.
In Ein Gedi is identified with Hazazon-tamar, Hazezon Tamar, Hatzatzon-Tamar or Hazezontamar, on account of the palm groves which surrounded it, where the Moabites and Ammonites gathered in order to fight Josaphat, king of Judah. In Hazazon-tamar is mentioned as being an Amorite city, smitten by Chedorlaomer in his war against the cities of the plain.
The Song of Songs speaks of the "vineyards of Ein Gedi".
The words of Ecclesiasticus 24:18, "I was exalted like a palm tree in Cades", may perhaps be understood as the palm trees of Ein Gedi.

Second Temple period

A new settlement on the same site was established in the Persian period. Remains from this period include jar handles bearing the letters YHD, indicating that Ein Gedi was part of the Judah province. The settlement was in turn destroyed in the 4th century BCE.
This was followed by a new fortified settlement that was probably destroyed in the 1st century BCE. Remains from the Roman period include a bathhouse which would have been used by the garrison on the site.
During the late Hasmonean period, Ein Gedi was likely inhabited by tenant farmers. The residents used cave tombs for multiple burials, continuing the burial practices of Iron Age Israel. Thanks to the region's climate and soil conditions, several wooden coffins dating from the 2nd and 1st centuries BCE, influenced by Hellenistic design, were found complete and exceptionally well-preserved, alongside other wooden grave goods.
During the Herodian period, Ein Gedi reached its greatest extent, expanding from the mound of Tel Goren to the north across a natural terrace.
According to 1st-century Jewish historian Josephus, Ein Gedi served as the capital of a toparchy, and there were excellent palm trees and balsam growing there. The date palm's fruit and the balsam plant's fragrance were essential to the village's economy. The balsam plant also served as a source for expensive medications. According to Roman author Pliny the Elder, writing in the same period, Ein Gedi "was second only to Jerusalem in the fertility of its land and its groves of palm-dates".

Jewish–Roman wars

During Passover in 68 CE, the Sicarii, a radical Jewish faction then occupying Masada, attacked Ein Gedi. According to Josephus, they drove away the men, killed seven hundred women and children, and looted the victims' homes, taking all supplies to Masada. After the war, Roman historian Pliny the Elder wrote that Ein Gedi was, "like Jerusalem, a heap of ashes". After the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE, control of Ein Gedi's balsam plantations was transferred to the Roman treasury. Around this time, a Roman bath, likely serving the Roman administration, was constructed in Ein Gedi using reused Herodian stones.
A glimpse into Ein Gedi's status during the period between the two major Jewish revolts can be found in a document dated May 6, 124, known as P.Yadin 11, discovered in Babatha's archive. This Greek-language document refers to Ein Gedi as "the village of our Lord the Emperor", suggesting it was part of the emperor's private property. Additionally, it mentions that the military unit, cohors I milliaria Thracum, was stationed there. Another text from the same archive, dated 127 CE, reveals that by this time, Ein Gedi was no longer the center of a toparchy but had become part of a new one, governed from Jericho.
During the Bar Kokhba revolt, some inhabitants of Ein Gedi fled to caves in the nearby wilderness, such as the Cave of Letters, taking with them everyday vessels, important documents, and personal artifacts. Additionally, house keys were found, which the refugees took after leaving and locking their homes. When archaeologists discovered the cave, they found some of these items along with human remains, including the skeletons of three men, eight women, and six children. Religious literature, including a copy of Psalm 15, was also found, alongside a few Greek-written Bible pieces. From the remains, fifty names of Ein Gedi inhabitants or courtiers sent to them are now known, most of them Hebrew names.
Also evident in documents from the Cave of Letters are connections between the Jewish communities of Ein Gedi and Maḥoza. The Babatha archive, in particular, highlights strong familial ties between these communities, with family members living in both areas, managing property, and marrying across regions. These connections likely formed after the First Jewish Revolt, when Roman attacks forced Ein Gedi's families to seek refuge in Maḥoza, due to its similar environment.
During the suppression of the Bar Kokhba revolt, the settlement was severely damaged.

Late Roman and Byzantine periods

Ein Gedi was resettled after the catastrophic aftermath of the Bar Kokhba revolt, and continued to exist until the sixth or seventh centuries. After the Bar Kokhba revolt Ein Gedi was reinhabited, initially at a smaller scale with growth into the Byzantine period. The settlement became a "very large village of Jews," as Eusebius testified in the Onomasticon in the early fourth century CE. Archaeologist Gideon Hadas estimated that during the Byzantine period, the population of Ein Gedi was around 1,000 people, who cultivated approximately 1,000 dunams of farmland.
Ein Gedi became famous for growing balsam for perfumes, balsam oil, and medicines. Rabbinic literature mentions balsam plantations from Ein Gedi to Ramata, and the plantations of Ein Gedi are also referenced by Eusebius and Jerome. These plantations disappeared when the village was destroyed several centuries later.
In the early 3rd century CE, a synagogue was built in the center of the village. Its remains include a Hebrew and Judeo-Aramaic inscription mosaic now on display at Jerusalem's National Archaeology Campus warning inhabitants against "revealing the town's secret" – possibly the methods for extraction and preparation of the much-prized balsam resin, though not stated outright in the inscription – to the outside world.
In the mosaic uncovered in the synagogue at the site, a curse is inscribed on anyone who dares to reveal the "secret of the town". Most researchers believe that this secret is the method of making balsam oil. Jodi Magness presents a different interpretation, based among other elements on a similar phrase from the Damascus Document from nearby Qumran and the Cairo Geniza. Magness argues that betraying one's own Jewish community to the Gentiles was seen as deserving the death penalty, which could be meted out either by God himself, or by the Jews in the name of God.
Galen  is the only pagan writer who explicitly links the special oil known as Shemen Afarsimon to Ein Gedi.