La preziosa testimonianza dell’archeologia sui Maccabei

A rare wooden box containing a small hoard of 15 silver coins dating to the reign of Antiochos IV was discovered in an excavation in the Darageh Stream Nature Reserve, overlooking the Dead Sea. A refugee probably hid the wooden box in the cave, intending to return to collect his money after the revolt. The box was hidden in Muraba‘at Cave in the Darageh Stream Nature Reserve about 2,200 years ago, and it was discovered in excavations carried out there last May. According to Dr Eitan Klein, who studied the coins together with Dr. Gabriela Bijovsky, Israel Antiquities Authority numismatic expert, “It is interesting to try to visualize the person who fled to the cave and hid his personal property here intending to return to collect it. The person was probably killed in the battles, and he did not return to collect his possessions that awaited almost 2,200 years until we retrieved it. This is an absolutely unique find, presented the first clear archaeological evidence that the Judean Desert caves played an active role as the stage of the activities of the Jewish rebels or the fugitives in the early days of the Maccabean Revolt, or the events that led up to them. See the promotional video.