Not a BAS Library member yet? Join the BAS Library today. To learn more about the lost world of the Idumeans being uncovered at Tel Maresha, read Ian Stern, “ A World Below: The Caves of Maresha,” in the September/October 2013 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review.
Such aniconic depictions may indicate that the Idumeans, like their Judean neighbors, had a strong aversion to figurative idols. Also found throughout the Maresha caves are non-figurative, stylized depictions of Qos, the god of the Idumeans. Archaeologists believe they may have been used by the Idumeans for ritual bathing, similar to Jewish mikva’ot in Judea. Interesting features hewn from the cave walls have also been uncovered, including nearly two dozen rock-cut chambers with small baths. The resemblance suggests the purification rites of the Idumeans may have been similar to those of the Judeans. More puzzling are hundreds of vessels deliberately punctured with small holes, a phenomenon that bears striking similarities to a purification ritual described in the Mishnah.
A young volunteer excavating in the Tel Maresha caves as part of the program called “Dig for a Day.” Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologists supervise the work of volunteersAmong the more interesting finds from the Tel Maresha caves are hundreds of ostraca inscribed in Aramaic, Greek and Hebrew, containing more than 1,300 personal names from the city’s diverse community of Idumeans, Judeans and Arabs.
0 kommentar(er)
