gogue itself, a scroll of Deuteronomy and a scroll of Ezekiel were found buried beneath
the floor of locus 1043.^757
The condition of the scrolls found at Masada, and the location of the finds, suggest that
most of the scrolls were disposed of after a deliberate attempt was made to destroy or de-
face them.^758 The two exceptional cases are MasDeut and MasEzek, found buried under-
neath the floor of locus 1043. These deposits were carried out intentionally, and one of
the scrolls had been rolled before it was placed.^759 It seems, therefore, that out of at least
15 Hebrew scrolls that existed at Masada during the First Jewish Revolt, only two of
those were deposited in such a way that they might be spared mutilation at the hands of
the Roman soldiers. The remaining scrolls that preserve sufficient material all appear to
have suffered this exact fate: MasPsb in locus 1103, the Ben Sirah scroll in locus 1109,
Mas1n ‘Unidentified Qumran-Type Fragment’ in locus 1063, and the scrolls gathered
together with other materials to be destroyed in locus 1039, 1045 and 1276; all these
show signs of intentionally inflicted damage.
tively (see Y. Yadin, Herod's Fortress, 181-92). Netzer has pointed out that this was not the original func-
tion of the building, but that it was rather adopted as suitable for the purpose by the Zealots who occupied
the site during the First Revolt (see E. Netzer, 757 Masada III, 402-13).
These scrolls were buried in two separate pits in the floor of locus 1043. See the description of the finds
in E. Netzer, 758 Masada III, 410, and the description in Y. Yadin, Herod's Fortress, 187-89.
S. Talmon, "Hebrew Scroll Fragments From Masada," The Story of Masada: Discoveries From the Ex-
cavations (ed. G. Hurvitz; Utah: BYU Studies, 1997) 102-3, says of the fragmentary texts: “the margins
seem to show that some scrolls were willfully torn, presumably by Roman soldiers who, after their con-
quest of the fortress, vented their rage on the sacred writings of the defenders of Masada.” 759
See Y. Yadin, Herod's Fortress, 187. The pits themselves were quite large, about 1-2 metres in diameter
and 70 centimetres deep according to E. Netzer, Masada III, 410. It is unclear whether or not the two
scrolls were the only items of value that were laid in them, though the only other matter to be found in the
pits was “a mixture of gravel, sherds and organic material.” The separation of the pits in which the scrolls
were discovered suggests that they were deposited on different occasions. On this see E. Tov, "The Biblical
Text in Ancient Synagogues," 186-90, and E. Tov, Scribal Practices and Approaches, 318.