Nahal Hever
Nahal Hever (Hebrew: נחל חבר, Arabic: wadi al-Khabat) is an Intermittent stream (wadi) in the Judean Desert that flows from Yatta area to the Dead Sea. The named is derived from the city of Hebron. The stream has a few waterfalls, the tallest one amounts to over 140 metres (460 ft).[1]
The caves
At the head of the stream are two caves, the "Cave of Letters" (מערת האיגרות), and, further up, the "Cave of Horror" (מערת האימה) in which twenty four[citation needed] human skeletons were found. They have been regarded as archeological evidence of the Bar Kokhba revolt (132–136). Those of Babatha and her son are, presumably, among them.[2] The sites were discovered 1953 and investigated 1960 and 1961 by Yigael Yadin. In 1999 and 2000 it was excavated by Richard Freund of the University of Hartford.
Biblical manuscripts
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e7/Psalm_23_Dead_Sea_Scrolls.jpg/220px-Psalm_23_Dead_Sea_Scrolls.jpg)
Several fragments of ancient biblical manuscripts were found at Nahal Hever. They include portions of the Book of Numbers and Psalms. They are currently housed at the Rockefeller Museum.[3][4] Some other biblical manuscript fragments have also been discovered, such as from Deuteronomy.[5]
See also
References
- ^ (in Hebrew)
- ^ Goodman, Martin (1991-01-01). "Babatha's Story". The Journal of Roman Studies. 81. p. 169. doi:10.2307/300497. ISSN 0075-4358. JSTOR 300497.
- ^ PETER W. FLINT AND ANDREA E. ALVAREZ, The Preliminary Edition of the First Numbers Scroll from Nahial Hiever. Bulletin for Biblical Research 9 (1999) 137-143
- ^ Nahal Hever 'Numbers'
- ^ Nahal Hever 'Deuteronomy'