1/7
Dec. 20 (UPI) — The Israeli Antiquities Authority has uncovered an elaborate 2,000-year-old family tomb during excavations of the Salome Cave in southern Israel. The location is named for Salome, the biblical midwife at the birth of Jesus who was traditionally believed to have been buried at the location.
“The family tomb attests that its owners were a family of high status in the Judean Shefelah in the second temple period. The cult of Salome, sanctified in Christianity, belongs to a broader phenomenon, whereby the fifth century CE Christian pilgrims encountered and sanctified Jewish sites,” researchers said in a press release from the Israeli Antiquities Authority.
An excavation of the location’s courtyard revealed that it had been home to multiple shop stalls.
“In the shop, we found hundreds of complete and broken lamps dating from the 8th-9th centuries CE,” said Nir Shimshon-Paran and Zvi Firer, excavation directors in the Israel Antiquities Authority Southern Region. “The lamps may have served to light up the cave, or as part of the religious ceremonies, similarly to candles distributed today at the graves of righteous figures and in churches.”
The Salome Cave is being restored for public viewing as part of a broader project to make historical sites accessible to the public.
“Once the restoration and development works are completed, the forecourt and the cave will be opened to the public, as part of Judean Kings’ Trail Project in cooperation with the Jewish National Fund and the Ministry for Jerusalem and Heritage,” said Saar Ganor, the Israel Antiquities Authority director of the Judean Kings’ Trail Project.
The burial cave was first exposed by looters four decades ago and subsequently became an important excavation site. Archeologists discovered several chambers with burial niches known as kokhim, along with several broken stone box ossuaries, which shed light on burial traditions at the site.
Salome Cave is not in the occupied territories. The Israeli Antiquities Authority has been criticized for conducting excavations in the occupied West Bank without the input of Palestinian locals.
The Israeli Antiquities Authority released a YouTube video documenting the discoveries at Salome Cave.
