This article engages three deities, one Greek and two Oriental, that their cults were worshipped in caves during the Hellenistic and Roman periods. The first deity is a Hellenistic terracotta figurine of Aphrodite, recovered from the prehistoric cave Me‘arat ha-Nahal (Wadi el-Maghara) at the foot of Mount Carmel. It probably represents Aphrodite Pandemos (Ἀϕροδίτη Πάνδημος) or Aphrodite en Kepois (Ἀϕροδίτη ἐν Κήποις). It may be assumed that the cave, and its proximity to the city of Dor, was modified to serve as a cultic site or shrine. The second deity is represented by a sunken relief engraved on a rough rock surface adjacent to a cluster of 18 caves, known as “The Temple Cave” complex, along Keziv Stream (Nahal Keziv) in western Galilee. The largest and main cave in this complex seems to have had a cultic function in the Roman period, that is, it constituted a cultic site for a particular divinity. The sunken relief depicts a walking male military figure, dubbed “The Man in the Wall.” Based on a comparative study and the figure’s iconographic characteristics, we may identify it with Sol Invictus Mithras, a Late Roman-period deity, manifesting cultic pagan activity in a remote and isolated area, in the very heart of nature. The third deity is Ba‘al Carmel (identified with Zeus/Jupiter) who was presumably worshipped in Elijah’s Cave on the western slope of Mt. Carmel. Ba‘al Carmel’s visual representation, the depiction of a libation vessel and the presumed figure of a priest or, alternatively, an altar within an aedicula suggest it was used in the Roman period. Notably, one of the Greek inscriptions, dated to the Roman period, explicitly addresses the cave’s sacred nature and the prohibition against its profanation.

El-Janab Cave (‘Usarin Cave) is a large karst system located about 11 km south of Shechem (Nablus) in Central Samaria. It comprises a series of large chambers connected by narrow passages that developed as a hypogenic cave in Upper-Cenomanian dolomite. During 2017–2018, we mapped and surveyed the cave, retrieving archaeological finds from various periods, including the Late Chalcolithic, early Bronze Age, Middle Bronze Age, Iron Age I, Iron Age II, Persian, early Hellenistic, Early Roman, Ayyubid and Mamluk periods. It seems that the cave’s geographical and morphological features—its location in an open but settled landscape and its complex structure of passages leading to spacious chambers—attracted distinct human activities in several periods. In some phases, it was used as a refuge in turbulent times. In this paper, we present the archeological assemblages from the cave and discuss their interpretation and association with the history of the area.

The site of Tell el-Hawy is located above the confluence of the Rukkad and Yarmuk Rivers, near Israel’s present-day borders with Syria and Jordan. A survey revealed ancient remains on the hilltop and slopes dating mainly from the Iron Age, Late Hellenistic, and Roman periods. Twenty caves were found, including a large burial cave with loculi. The finds from the survey, as well as the caves, are described. The location of the site and its function are also discussed.

The Nesher-Ramla Quarry (el-Khirbe), located in the northwestern part of the Judean Foothills (Shefela), has been the site of one of the most extensive and long-lasting salvage excavations in Israel, conducted over almost two decades. During this time, dozens of hiding complexes were uncovered. The author has recently published a detailed review of these findings in a separate monograph. The present article summarizes the typology of the Nesher-Ramla hiding complexes and discusses their dating and function. Although similar to hundreds of other hiding complexes in Judea and the Galilee, the subterranean complexes at Nesher-Ramla Quarry and elsewhere clearly predate the Bar Kokhba Revolt. Nesher-Ramla Quarry’s outstanding contribution derives from the scale of its excavations and recovered finds, indicating that these underground complexes may have had a history and a function somewhat different than previously believed.

Beth She‘arim was a Jewish town in the Galilee during the Roman period. Besides ritual baths, stone vessels, and synagogues, all present at Beth She‘arim, a key property of Roman-period Jewish settlements is underground complexes. The precise time and duration of these hiding complexes in the Galilee are controversial since there is only little reliable evidence upon which to establish a date. Recent excavations at Beth She‘arim have discovered three new hiding complexes that join another previously discovered complex. Two of the three complexes were excavated and documented, and the results shed light on the historical circumstances in which these complexes were hewn. It seems that the Beth She‘arim hiding complexes should be dated to the 2nd century CE and thus are probably related to the Bar Kokhba Revolt. Therefore, the Beth She‘arim hiding complexes constitute an important contribution to the study of the Galilee during the Bar Kokhba Revolt.

The ancient Jewish site of Ḥorbat Ḥuqoq has recently become famous for its synagogue and magnificent 5th-century CE mosaic floor. While unearthing the synagogue, a rock-hewn hiding complex was discovered beneath the floor and partially excavated. This complex (Hiding Complex 1) provided an emergency escape route via winding passages to a cistern, the side of which could be scaled with a ladder. Another hiding complex—Hiding Complex 2—was discovered as early as the 1980s at the base of the synagogue hill’s northern slope. It was surveyed and documented several times. In 2002, four chambers and several passages were excavated, and in 2021, the entrance was excavated, demonstrating it had been accessed via a ritual bath. This article presents the excavation results of the Ḥuqoq Hiding Complex 2. Among other things, they include a rich 2nd-century CE pottery assemblage retrieved from the inner passages of the complex, including fragments of cooking pots, jars, oil lamps, and a gemstone ring. A hoard of 22 coins, the first to be discovered in a Galilean hiding complex, was found deep inside one of the tunnels. Presently, only one was dated to the 2nd century CE. In this paper, we place Ḥuqoq in the context of some 14 other hiding complexes that were officially excavared and attributed by pottery and some other finds to the 2nd century CE. The paper explores a new dimension of the question about the Galilee’s participation in the Bar Kokhba Revolt. At the very least, it is now certain that the local population prepared for the revolt.

In the excavations conducted by Y. Shiloh in the City of David in Jerusalem during 1978–1985, an impressive hoard of 45 Hebrew bullae was found in the stratum destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BCE. Two of them, stamped by the same seal, were read לאליקם̇ בן אוהל. The plene spelling with waw for the vowel o in the name אוהל was a novelty in the Hebrew epigraphy of the First Temple period, as this was the first time that such a spelling had been found in a fully preserved and provenanced inscription. In this study, it will be shown that the third letter in the second name is, in fact, a ḥet rather than a he and, hence, that the name should be read אוחל. This name is built on the root wḥl, which implies that the letter waw on the bullae is not a mater lectionis. The misreading of this letter led to a series of far-reaching conclusions concerning some aspects of the pronunciation of the Hebrew spoken by the inhabitants of Judah in the 7th–6th centuries BCE and consequently the historical development of the orthography of the Hebrew script, conclusions that should now be revised.

An inscription in early Canaanite script from Lachish, incised on an ivory comb, is presented. The 17 letters, in early pictographic style, form seven words expressing a plea against lice.

Cappadocia, like many other parts of the world, is loaded with underground defense structures. The volcanic tuff, characteristic of the region, is easy to carve through and covers hundreds of square kilometers, thus providing favorable conditions for numerous underground defense structures. Consequently, almost every village in Cappadocia boasts at least one or more rock-cut structures. Although some are small and stand-alone structures, others constitute large and elaborate underground cities, including hundreds of meters-long tunnels and countless rooms. For more than seven years now, the OBRUK Cave Research Group has carried out the Underground Structures Inventory Project in Kayseri province. To date, 33 underground cities have been systematically explored and surveyed. This article begins with an introductory overview of the historical background and research of underground cities in Cappadocia and continues with an account of some of the most telling examples of these structures.

A small salvage excavation was conducted in 2007 at the Mount of Offence (part of the Mount of Olives, Ras el-‘Amud neighborhood), overlooking Jerusalem’s old city. The excavation revealed finds of three periods: the EB Ib, late Iron Age IIc, the Early Roman, and the Byzantine periods. The EB Ib remains included a burial cave, which was only partly excavated. The remains provide important information about the inhabitants of early Jerusalem. Later, in the Late Iron Age IIc, part of the cave was cleared and used for temporary habitation, perhaps in anticipation of the impending Babylonian siege. Lastly, in the Early Roman and Byzantine periods, the mountainside was made into a quarry, unaware of the early cave. These three chronological episodes offer us a glimpse into some of the activities on the outskirts of ancient Jerusalem.

Hiding complexes in Judea have been objects of considerable scholarly interest since the 1970s. By now, we are well acquainted with their main features and spatial distribution. Most hiding complexes in the Judean foothills were cut beneath the houses in Jewish villages. They were entered via shafts carved out of the nari rock, leading to underground passages quarried in the soft chalk beneath. Following recent intensive looting at Tel Lavnin, a site located in ‘Adullam Park, south of the Ela Valley, inspectors of the Antiquities Theft Prevention Unit of the Israel Antiquities Authority documented three hiding complexes. In this paper, we present these hiding complexes and the objects discovered in them. We discuss these complexes’ special architectural features and ponder why particular architectural methods were chosen. We then compare the complexes of Tel Lavnin to complexes documented elsewhere in Judea. We propose that they constitute an architectural subtype of hiding complexes from the Bar Kokhba Revolt and predict that others like them will be discovered in the future.