VP Harris represents the United States at the ASEAN Summit in Indonesia after President Biden decided to skip it. What do you hope the outcome will be?
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11:04 AM · Sep 6, 2023
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https://twitter.com/simonateba/status/1699438398308483570
BREAKING: Federal judge rules Trump liable in second E. Jean Carroll defamation case. Now, jury will only need to decide how much money Donald Trump will have to pay her. As expected, this is the headline on virtually all left-leaning outlets. Your reaction.
11:58 AM · Sep 6, 2023
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https://twitter.com/simonateba/status/1699451930836099536
Dead Sea reveals four 1,900-year-old Roman swords in cave
bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-66728207
By David Gritten
Published
4 hours ago
By David Gritten
BBC News
A cache of four excellently preserved Roman swords have been discovered by Israeli researchers in a cave overlooking the Dead Sea.
Three of the 1,900-year-old weapons, whose iron blades are 60-65cm long (24-26in), were still in wooden scabbards.
They were found in a near-inaccessible crevice by a team photographing an ancient inscription on a stalactite.
Archaeologists believe the swords were hidden by Judean rebels after they were seized from the Roman army as booty.
"This is a dramatic and exciting discovery, touching on a specific moment in time," Eli Escusido, director of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), said in a statement.
Mr Escusido said that the dry desert climate around the Dead Sea enabled the preservation of artefacts that would not survive elsewhere in Israel.
"This is a unique time capsule, whereby fragments of scrolls, coins from the Jewish Revolt, leather sandals, and now even swords in their scabbards, sharp as if they had only just been hidden away today."
Fifty years ago, a stalactite with an incomplete ink inscription written in ancient Hebrew script was found in a small cave high on a cliff above the Dead Sea, north of the En Gedi oasis in eastern Israel.
Archaeologist Dr Asaf Gayer of Ariel University, geologist Boaz Langford of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and photographer Shai Halevi of the IAA recently went to the cave with the aim of using multispectral photography to decipher parts of the inscription not visible to the naked eye.
While on the upper level of the cave, Dr Gayer spotted a well-preserved Roman pilum, or javelin, in a narrow crevice. He also found worked wood in a nearby niche that turned out to be parts of the swords' scabbards.
The researchers reported the discovery and returned with another team to carry out a survey of all the crevices in the cave, during which the swords were uncovered.
The three swords that were still in their wooden scabbards were identified as Roman spatha, or long swords, while the fourth, shorter weapon was identified as a ring-pommel sword.
They had well-fashioned handles made of wood or metal.
Leather strips and pieces of wood and metal belonging to them were also found.
"It looked a bit like a pile of books. But - swords!" said archaeologist Oriya Amichay. "Sure, we know the story from history. But to see such a find is to look history in the face."
Archaeologists say the hiding of the swords and pilum in the cave suggests that the weapons were taken by Judean rebels from Roman soldiers as booty or from the battlefield.
They were then purposefully hidden for reuse, possibly during the second major Jewish revolt against the Roman Empire in Judea - the Bar Kochba Revolt (132AD-135AD).
"We are just beginning the research on the cave and the weapon cache discovered in it, aiming to try to find out who owned the swords, and where, when, and by whom they were manufactured," said Dr Eitan Klein, a director of the Judean Desert Survey Project.
Four 1,900-year-old Roman swords found in Judean Desert, likely from Bar Kochba revolt
timesofisrael.com/four-1900-year-old-roman-swords-discovered-hidden-in-desert-cave
By Melanie Lidman
Archaeology
Apparently stolen by Jewish rebels, the incredibly well-preserved weapons are ‘an extremely rare find, the likes of which have never been found in Israel’
Archaeologists remove the swords from the rock crevice where they were hidden some 1,900 years ago in a cave in the Judean Desert. (Emil Aladjem/IAA)
Archaeologists at work excavating the cave where four Roman swords were discovered in the Judean Desert, with a view of the Dead Sea. (Oriya Amichai/IAA)
Archaeologists carefully remove the swords from the entrance of the cave where they were discovered in the Judean desert. (Emil Aladjem/IAA)
Archaeologists excavate the cave where four Roman swords were discovered in the Judean desert. (Hagay Hamer/IAA)
From right to left, Dr. Asaf Gayer, Oriya Amichay, Dr. Eitan Klein, and Amir Ganor, with some of the Roman swords at the IAA office in Jerusalem. (Yoli Schwartz/IAA)
Archaeologists sift dirt from the cave in the Judean Desert where four Roman swords were discovered, with a view of the Dead Sea. (Matan Toledano/IAA)
The 1,900-year-old Roman shafted pilum weapon found in a cave in the Judean desert. (Dafna Gazit/IAA)
One of the 1,900-year-old Roman spatha swords which was hidden, likely by Jewish rebels, in a cave in the Judean desert. (Dafna Gazit/IAA)
Archaeologists remove the swords from the rock crevice where they were hidden some 1,900 years ago in a cave in the Judean Desert. (Emil Aladjem/IAA)
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Archaeologists have discovered four 1,900-year-old Roman swords in a cave in the Judean Desert, which experts believe were captured by the Judean rebels during the Bar Kochba revolt and placed in a narrow crevice in the rock.
“We’re talking about an extremely rare find, the likes of which have never been found in Israel,” Dr. Eitan Klein, one of the directors of the Israel Antiquities Authority’s Judean Desert Survey, said in a video accompanying the announcement of the discovery. “Four swords amazingly preserved, including the fine condition of the metal, the handles, and the scabbards.”
The preliminary article on the swords is published in the volume “New Studies in the Archaeology of the Judean Desert: Collected Papers,” which explores new archaeological finds discovered in the Judean Desert Survey Project. A conference launching the book is taking place Wednesday in Jerusalem.
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The four swords were discovered shoved into a small fissure in a cave near Ein Gedi National Park, near the Dead Sea. The cave is already well-known to archaeologists, as it contains a stalactite with a fragmentary ink inscription written in ancient Hebrew script characteristic of the First Temple period.
Recently, Dr. Asaf Gayer of Ariel University, geologist Boaz Langford of Hebrew University, and Israel Antiquities Authority photographer Shai Halevi returned to the cave to photograph the stalactite with multispectral photography, which can decipher additional parts of the inscription not visible to the naked eye. While inside the cave, Gayer spotted an extremely well-preserved Roman pilum — a shafted weapon — in a deep, narrow crack in the rock. He also found pieces of carved wood in an adjacent niche that turned out to be parts of the swords’ scabbards.
The researchers reported the find to the Israel Antiquities Authority and returned to the site with the Judean Desert Archaeological Survey Team, which is conducting a multi-year comprehensive survey of more than 800 caves in the Judean Desert to find and preserve archaeological remains before they are looted.
It was then that they discovered the four swords, three of which were found with the blades still inside their scabbards. Researchers also found ornate handles made of wood and metal with leather strips nearby. The arid climate in the Judean Desert helps preserve fragile artifacts that might otherwise be lost to the ravages of time, including materials such as leather and wood, which are rarely found in wetter parts of the country.
Three of the swords are Roman spatha swords, with blades 60 to 65 centimeters (23.5 to 25.5 inches) long. The fourth weapon, a ring-pommel sword, is shorter, with a 45-centimeter (18-inch) blade. The swords likely belonged to Roman soldiers and were stolen by Judean rebels who hid them in a cave either for later use or to avoid being caught with them.
https://youtu.be/ML6D8Kta-PU
“The blades have been preserved so well, they look like they could be picked up and used right now, even 2,000 years after they were forged,” said Langford. “You just realize that you are touching history, because here you are touching a find whose story you know.”
The Bar Kochba revolt, from 132 to 135 CE, also called the Second Jewish Revolt, was a Jewish rebellion against Roman rule in Judea led by rebel leader Simon Bar Kochba. Archaeologists believe the swords were likely hidden in the crevices inside the cave sometime during the revolt, as it was dangerous for Jews to be found with Roman weapons.
“This is a very rare and unique find on an international level that will shed light on the last moments of the war between the Jewish rebels and the Roman army at the time of the Bar Kochba revolt,” said Klein.
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‘A unique time capsule’
The cave survey is being undertaken by the IAA in cooperation with the Archaeology Department of the Civil Administration in Judea and Samaria, and has been funded in part by the Ministry of Jerusalem Affairs and Heritage. Each body allocated about a third of the project budget.
Earlier this year, archaeologists carrying out the Judean Desert cave surveys discovered a rare half-shekel coin minted by the Bar Kochba underground economy.
The cave survey started in 2017 and helped archaeologists discover at least 20 new caves they had not previously known. In 2021, archaeologists announced that one of the caves contained previously undiscovered fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls, some 60 years after the last pieces of the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered.
Following the discovery of the swords, archaeologists carried out an extensive excavation of the cave, discovering artifacts from the Chalcolithic period (around 6,000 years ago) and the Roman period (around 2,000 years ago). At the entrance to the cave, researchers found a Bar Kochba bronze coin from the time of the revolt that could help pinpoint the dates when the weapons were hidden.
“This is a dramatic and exciting discovery, touching on a specific moment in time,” said Eli Escusido, director of the Israel Antiquities Authority.
Noting that not all are aware that the dry climatic conditions in the Judean Desert enable the preservation of artifacts that do not survive in other parts of the country, Escusido called the area a “unique time capsule” where it is possible to find “fragments of scrolls, coins from the Jewish Revolt, leather sandals — and now even swords in their scabbards, sharp as if they had only just been hidden away today.”
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Israeli researchers find 'four 1,900-year-old, excellently preserved' Roman swords in Dead Sea cave
foxnews.com/world/israeli-researchers-find-four-1900-year-old-excellently-preserved-roman-swords-dead-sea-cave
Greg Norman
Israel
Discoveries in Ein Gedi cave are believed to have been stashed by Judean rebels
By Greg Norman Fox News
Published September 6, 2023 9:17am EDT
Video
Researchers in Israel have discovered "four 1,900-year-old, excellently preserved Roman swords" and a javelin head in a "small hidden cave" near the shoreline of the Dead Sea, the country’s antiquities authority announced Wednesday.
The weapons were found near Ein Gedi after scientists went there to further investigate an inscription found on a stalactite inside the same cave decades ago.
"The hiding of the swords and the pilum in deep cracks in the isolated cave north of Ein 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," Eitan Klein, a director with the Judean Desert Survey Project, said in a statement released by the Israeli Antiquities Authority.
"Obviously, the rebels did not want to be caught by the Roman authorities carrying these weapons. We are just beginning the research on the cave and the weapon cache discovered in it, aiming to try to find out who owned the swords, and where, when, and by whom they were manufactured," he added. "We will try to pinpoint the historical event that led to the caching of these weapons in the cave and determine whether it was at the time of the Bar Kokhba Revolt in 132-135 CE."
Israeli archeologists show four Roman-era swords and a javelin head found during a recent excavation in a cave near the Dead Sea, in Jerusalem, on Wednesday, Sept. 6. (AP/Ohad Zwigenberg)
The Israeli Antiquities Authority says its affiliated researchers have been combing through hundreds of caves in the Judean Desert over the past six years "with the aim of saving the archaeological remains from the hands of looters."
"The Judean Desert Cave Survey team… were astonished to find the four Roman swords in an almost inaccessible crevice on the upper level of the cave. The swords were exceptionally well preserved, and three were found with the iron blade inside the wooden scabbards," it added.
The crevice in the cave where the swords were found, according to the Israeli Antiquities Authority. (Emil Aladjem, Israel Antiquities Authority)
"Leather strips and wooden and metal finds belonging to the weapons were also found in the crevice. The swords had well-fashioned handles made of wood or metal," the Israeli Antiquities Authority continued. "The length of the blades of three swords was 24–26 inches, their dimensions identifying them as Roman spatha swords, and the fourth one was shorter with [an 18-inch] long blade, identified as a ring-pommel sword.
Archeologists said the exceptionally preserved artifacts are dated to the second century, when Jewish rebels launched an uprising against the Roman Empire. (AP/Ohad Zwigenberg)
"The swords were carefully removed from the crevice in the rock and transferred to the Israel Antiquities Authority climate-controlled laboratories for preservation and conservation," it also said. "The initial examination of the assemblage confirmed that these were standard swords employed by the Roman soldiers stationed in Judea in the Roman period."
Greg Norman is a reporter at Fox News Digital.