Early Judaism- A Comprehensive Overview

ceased and Hebrew scroll fragments (8μev 2). The nine fragments from a

Greek scroll of the Minor Prophets found in 8μev (8μevXIIgr; see fig. 47)

matched fragments already handed over by the Bedouin to the Rockefeller

Museum in 1952 and 1953. Two fragmentary personal documents in Greek

and Aramaic complement the textual finds from this cave.

Also found by Bedouin was another group of documents that proba-

bly originated from a cave further up the wadi. The documents evidently

belonged to refugees from neighboring villages in the Judean Desert. This

cave was excavated in 1991 by Hanan Eshel and David Amit (P.μever 9

and 69).

NaFal Mishmar

After three very badly fragmented documents and two ostraca, all proba-

bly from the Bar Kokhba period, entered the antiquities market with docu-

ments said to have come from NaFal Se}elim (Wadi Seiyal) in 1952 and 1953,

the Israel Exploration Society launched the Judean Desert Expedition in

1960 and 1961. Expedition B, directed by Yohanan Aharoni and Nahman

Avigad, concentrated on several caves in NaFal Se}elim and NaFal Harduf

(Wadi Abu Maradif ), about four kilometers north of Masada. Four caves

on the northern bank, one in NaFal Harduf (Cave of the Reservoir) and

three in NaFal Se}elim (Cave of the Arrows, Cave of the Skulls, Cave of the

Scrolls), yielded remains from the Bar Kokhba period. In addition, four

Roman forts that guarded the area were identified.

Although most of the caves had been pillaged by Bedouin, they fortu-

nately missed a small cave on the northern bank of the wadi (Cave 34).

Here, eight written documents were found (34Se 1-8), together with a cou-

ple of personal objects, among them a coin from the Severan period.

Among the texts are two phylacteries on parchment with passages from

Exodus (34Se1 frgs. A and B), one fragmentary legal papyrus in Aramaic,

and remains of two others in Greek. Fragments of a census list (34Se 4) and

an account in Greek (34Se 5) complement the collection from Seiyal and

were published in DJD 38.

A number of other caves yielded additional documents from the time

around the First and the Second Revolt. Many of these documents are still

unpublished; others have been collected and made accessible in DJD 38

(among them nineteen papyri from Jericho). The excavation of the large

cave complex (Cave VIII/9) and the Cave of Avior (Cave VIII/10) during

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jürgen k. zangenberg

EERDMANS -- Early Judaism (Collins and Harlow) final text
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