The True History of Ancient Jewish Underground Hiding Places in Israel

 

Subterranean complex at Khirbet al-Murak in the Judean HillsCredit: Shahar Cohen

New finds show that the rock-cut shelters, once linked to the Bar Kochba Revolt, originated earlier as a Jewish strategy to resist all foreign encroachment.

Beneath much of Israel, the Dunderground, is a mirrored world of ancient winding tunnels, steep cliffs and vast chambers carved into the rock. Archaeologists have long known that most Jewish settlements in Roman-era Judea were equipped with elaborate labyrinths of hiding places that enabled inhabitants to hide from raids and, if necessary, for long periods underground. can live.

These hiding places were initially often associated with the Kochba Revolt, a violent conflict in the second century AD that was the last major Jewish attempt to overthrow Roman rule.

But recent discoveries have shown that the phenomenon began much earlier, possibly even before the arrival of the Romans, experts interviewed by Haaretz say. These hiding places have a more complex history than previously thought, and they evolved over time to become a key element in the long-term strategy of Jewish resistance to foreign encroachment.

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Nowhere to goMany readers will be more familiar with the use of natural caves, particularly around the Dead Sea, as last refuges in times of battle. That's largely because these remote caves, thanks to their relative isolation and dry desert climate, have yielded spectacular finds, from the famous Dead Sea Scrolls to perfectly preserved ancient weapons. But for most Roman-era Jews, safety and hope for survival in wartime were very close: they made beds under their own homes in labyrinthine enclosures.

It was necessary,” explains Alexander Melamed, an archaeologist who has excavated one of the largest hiding complexes ever discovered in Israel: at Nesher-Ramla.

"The Judea of ​​2,000 years ago is not a peaceful place. Leaders change constantly, there are conflicts, civil wars and foreign invasions," he says. "People have nowhere to go, and they live in a very hostile environment. Where do they hide? Underground.
Archaeologists have found some 530 hiding complexes at nearly 300 sites, mainly scattered between modern-day central Israel, the West Bank and the Galilee in the north, reports a 2022 study by Dr. Dvir Raviv and Prof. Boaz Zissu, two archaeologists at Bar-Ilan University.

Scholars began investigating these underground spaces in the 1970s, and immediately linked them to the Bar Kochba Revolt. This conflict, named after the leader of the Jewish forces, Simon Bar Kochba, lasted from 132 to 136 C.E. and despite some initial successes for the rebels, it ultimately led to utter defeat and the end of Jewish life in Judea for centuries. The initial interpretation of the underground complexes was that the rebels used them as bases for guerrilla attacks against the Romans, hitting the enemy and quickly withdrawing underground. This was mainly based on the writings of Cassius Dio, a Greco-Roman historian who documented the bloody conflict, writing:
The Jews] did not dare try conclusions with the Romans in the open field, but they occupied the advantageous positions in the country and strengthened them with mines and walls, in order that they might have places of refuge whenever they should be hard pressed, and might meet together unobserved under ground; and they pierced these subterranean passages from above at intervals to let in air and light.
While most of the hiding complexes still seem to have been built in preparation for the Bar Kochba Revolt, finds at multiple sites now show they existed already in the late Second Temple period, Raviv tells Haaretz. Some were in use at the time of the First Revolt, which ended with the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 C.E., while others go back to Hasmonean times, to the first century B.C.E., he adds.
A hushed discovery
One of the most important recent contributions to the study of this phenomenon came from the large-scale salvage excavations of the hideout complex at Nesher-Ramla, near the central Israeli city of Ramla. The site is part of a mine used by the Nesher Cement Company, and archaeologists have been excavating there for two decades, working in front of bulldozers to investigate and document a large Jewish Second Temple-era rural town. are - as well as the Christian Byzantine settlement was later built on top of it.
Melmid, who spent 12 years excavating Nesher Ramla for the University of Haifa, says the Jewish town's secret underworld included more than fifty complexes, some buried dozens of meters into the rock. Some complexes were simple storage units to stash squirrel supplies, but many exhibited signs of human hiding places: narrow, winding burrows to make enemy access difficult; A "locking" mechanism (usually a rolling stone) that can only be operated from the inside; Tunnels connecting the secret chambers to local wells or cisterns to ensure water supply.
Importantly, coins and other finds date from the end of the Hasmonean period to the first half of the 1st century BCE, to the 1st century CE. The almost complete decline from the 2nd century AD indicates that settlement had already taken place. Melamed states that it was abandoned by this time, possibly as a result of the destruction during the first rebellion. Melmid noted in a 2022 study that more broadly, only about two dozen Bar Kochba Revolt coins have been found in hundreds of hidden complexes throughout Israel. This, he says, shows that scholars may have been too quick to link them so closely to the rebellion and describe them as part of a central pre-war planning.
No one had a set plan, these hiding places developed organically, people dug hiding places under their houses based on the will and needs of the owners,” Melmid told Haaretz by phone.
Some may suggest an apparent similarity between ancient Jewish hiding places and the modern-day tunnels dug by the terrorist group Hamas under the Gaza Strip, but Melamd dismisses any similarities as "unscientific." Rejects. They argue that the old hideouts were shelters for the local population, while Hamas leaders themselves have made it clear that their underground network is meant to protect their fighters, not civilians. Rather, Melamed likens the hideout compound to the modern-day reinforced concrete room that must encompass all newly constructed houses and apartments in Israel.
In times of peace it serves as a storage area and when war suddenly breaks out, it is used as a shelter or as an escape route for civilians,” he says. . As a side note, the parallel excavation of a prehistoric site at the Neshar-Ramla mine has made international headlines, but archaeologists have been very quiet about the hidden complex of the second temple period, outside of scholarly publications. which they are investigating there.