Tel Aviv: Researchers in Israel have discovered four 1,900-year-old and best-preserved Roman swords and a spearhead in a cave near the shores of the Dead Sea.
According to international media reports, the Israel Antiquities Authority said that the weapons were found near the archaeological site of Ein Gedi when scientists went to investigate ancient carvings found in the same cave 10 years ago.
In a statement released by the Israel Antiquities Authority, Eton Klein, director of the survey project, said that hundreds of centuries of swords and spears hidden in a cave north of Ein Gedi indicate that the weapons were imported from Roman soldiers. Taken as booty or from the battlefield and deliberately hidden for reuse by Jewish rebels.
He added that the Jewish rebels obviously did not want the Roman authorities to catch them with these weapons. We are now starting research on the cave and the cache of weapons found in it to try to find out who these weapons belonged to and where they came from. In addition we will determine whether they date back to the time of the Bar Kokhba revolt in 132-135 AD.
(function(d, s, id){
var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];
if (d.getElementById(id)) {return;}
js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;
js.src = “//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3&appId=770767426360150”;
fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);
}(document, ‘script’, ‘facebook-jssdk’));
(function(d, s, id) {
var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];
if (d.getElementById(id)) return;
js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;
js.src = “//connect.facebook.net/en_GB/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.7”;
fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);
}(document, ‘script’, ‘facebook-jssdk’));