Wadi Murabba'at, also known as Nahal Darga, is a ravine cut by a seasonal stream which runs from the Judean Desert east of Bethlehem past the Herodium down to the Dead Sea 18 km south of Khirbet Qumran in the West Bank. It was here in caves that Jewish fighters hid out during the Bar Kochba revolt, leaving behind documents that include some letters signed by Simon Bar Kochba.[1][2]
When the Ta'amireh Bedouin tribe that discovered the first cave at Qumran learned how valuable the texts they found were, they began to search for other sites that might contain more scrolls. This led in the autumn of 1951 to the discovery of caves high up in the near vertical rock face of the Wadi Murabba'at. With the confirmation that the new texts had come from Murabba'at, Gerald Lankester Harding and Roland de Vaux commenced official excavations there in January 1952.[3] Four caves were examined.
Remains were discovered that reflected habitation, usually temporary, during the Chalcolithic period, the Bronze Age (including a Hyksos scarab), the Iron Age, and the Roman period. The Roman period is represented by a large amount of pottery and numerous weapons, including the blade of a pilum (a Roman javelin). Numerous spindle whorls were found, suggesting the presence of women working with yarn, and a coin hoard which included 149 Nabataean drachmas, 51 imperial dinars and 33 tetradrachmasofTrajan. Most of the coins were minted in Antioch. The spindle whorls and the coins suggest a lengthy encampment by bar Kochba forces in the area, while the Roman objects point to the settlement being overrun by Roman forces.[4]
The Murabba'at area was surveyed by Pessah Bar-Adon in 1968 leading to the discovery of a fifth cave. In 1993 Hanan Eshel and Z. Greenhut discovered a cemetery which resembles that at Qumran.[5]
From the Roman period there is an inventory of about 120 documents which cover the decades leading up to the Bar Kochba revolt. Many of these are legal documents including deeds of land sale, marriage contracts, a debt acknowledgement and a writ of divorce. Fragments of biblical texts including Genesis, Deuteronomy and Isaiah were found, as well as the remains of a Hebrew Minor Prophets scroll.[6]
| Fragment or Scroll Identifier | Fragment or Scroll Name | Alternative Identifier | English Bible Association | Language | Date/Script | Description | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Wadi Murabba'at Cave 1 | |||||||
| Mur1 | Pentateuch? | Mur1 | Genesis 32:4–5, 30, 33–33:1; 34:5–7, 30–35:1, 4–7
Exodus 6:5–11 |
Hebrew | Roman | Parts of Genesis, Exodus, and Numbers. | [7] |
| MurDeut | Deuteronomy | Mur2 | Deuteronomy 10:1–3 | Hebrew | 20–84 CE
Roman |
[8][9] | |
| MurIsa | Isaiah | Mur3 | Hebrew | Roman | [10] | ||
| MurPhyl | Phylacteries | Mur4 | Contains Exodus 13:1–16
Deuteronomy 11:13–21; 6:4–9 |
Hebrew | Roman | [8][11] | |
| MurMez | Mezuzah | Mur5 | Contains Exodus 13:1–16
Deuteronomy 11:13–21; 6:4–9 |
Hebrew | Roman | [8][12] | |
| Mur6 | Unidentified literary text | Mur6 | [13] | ||||
| MurXII | Minor Prophets | Mur88 | Hebrew | Roman (Square script) | [14] | ||
The following letter, translated by John Allegro, is addressed to Joshua ben Galgola, who was the military commander of the Herodium fortress, which lay between Wadi Murabba'at and Jerusalem. The letter provides Bar Kochba's real name.
31°35′18″N 35°22′22″E / 31.58833°N 35.37278°E / 31.58833; 35.37278