Editing Masada (section)

== Archaeology ==

===Chalcolithic period===
An almost inaccessible cave, dubbed Yoram Cave, located on the sheer southern cliff face 100 m below the plateau, has been found to contain numerous plant remains, of which 6,000-year-old [[barley]] seeds were in such good state of preservation that their [[genome]] could be sequenced.<ref name="BIU">{{cite web |title=Genome of 6,000-year-old barley grains sequenced for first time |author=Spokesman BIU |work=Bar-Ilan in the Press |publisher=Bar-Ilan University |date=19 July 2016 |url=http://www1.biu.ac.il/indexE.php?id=33&pt=20&pid=117&level=2&cPath=33&type=1&news=2760 |access-date=12 August 2016}}</ref><ref name="haaretz">{{cite news |author=Ido Efrati |title=Domestication of barley began in northern Israel, 6000-year-old grains reveal |newspaper=Haaretz |date=19 July 2016 |url= http://www.haaretz.com/jewish/archaeology/1.731807 |access-date=12 August 2016 }}</ref> This is the first time that this succeeded with a Chalcolithic plant genome, which is also the oldest one sequenced so far.<ref name="BIU"/> The result helped determine that the earliest domestication of barley, dated elsewhere in the [[Fertile Crescent]] to 10,000 years ago, happened further north up the [[Jordan Rift Valley]], namely in the Upper Jordan Valley{{dubious|Term lacks clear definition in the paper abstract and BIU press releases available online for free. Probably from the sources to the Korazin block – ?|date=August 2016}} in northern Israel.<ref name= NatGen>{{cite journal |title=Genomic analysis of 6,000-year-old cultivated grain illuminates the domestication history of barley |author=Martin Mascher|display-authors=etal|journal=[[Nature Genetics]] |date=18 July 2016 |volume= 48|issue=9|pages=1089–1093|publisher=Macmillan Publishers |doi=10.1038/ng.3611 |pmid=27428749|s2cid=11574248|issn=1061-4036 |url=https://discovery.dundee.ac.uk/en/publications/15d655f0-3be9-4ed4-9338-7c34a1e08754}}</ref> 

The Yoram Cave seeds were found to be fairly different from the wild variety, proof for an already advanced process of domestication, but very similar to the types of barley still cultivated in the region—an indication for remarkable constancy.<ref name= BIU/> Considering the difficulty in reaching the cave, whose mouth opens some 4 m above the exposed access path, the researchers have speculated that it was a place of short-term refuge for Chalcolithic people fleeing an unknown catastrophe.<ref name= BIU/><ref name= ToI>{{cite news |author=Ilan Ben Zion |title=6 millennia old but 'almost fresh,' Masada seeds unravel barley's origins |newspaper=The Times of Israel |date=18 July 2016 |url= http://www.timesofisrael.com/6-millennia-old-but-almost-fresh-masada-seeds-unravel-barleys-origins/ |access-date=12 August 2016 }}</ref>

=== Identification and initial digs ===
The site of Masada was identified in 1838 by Americans Edward Robinson and Eli Smith, and in 1842, American missionary Samuel W. Wolcott and the English painter W. Tipping were the first moderns to climb it.<ref>''My Promised Land'', Ari Shavit, 2013, p. 80. {{ISBN?}}</ref> After visiting the site several times in the 1930s and 1940s, [[Shmarya Guttman]] conducted an initial probe excavation of the site in 1959.

=== Yigael Yadin expedition ===
Masada was extensively excavated between 1963 and 1965 by an expedition led by [[Archaeology of Israel|Israeli archaeologist]] and former military [[Chief of General Staff (Israel)|Chief-of-Staff]] [[Yigael Yadin]].

Due to the remoteness from human habitation and its arid environment, the site remained largely untouched by humans or nature for two millennia.

Many of the ancient buildings have been restored from their remains, as have the wall paintings of Herod's two main palaces, and the Roman-style [[Public bathing|bathhouse]]s that he built. The [[synagogue]], storehouses, and houses of the Jewish rebels have also been identified and restored.

Water cisterns two-thirds of the way up the cliff drain the nearby [[wadi]]s by an elaborate system of channels, which explains how the rebels managed to conserve enough water for such a long time.

The Roman attack ramp still stands on the western side and can be climbed on foot. The meter-high circumvallation wall that the Romans built around Masada can be seen, together with eight Roman siege camps just outside this wall. The Roman siege installations as a whole, especially the attack ramp, are the best preserved of their kind, and the reason for declaring Masada a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Due to the great interest shown by the public, Yadin published a book in 1966 for the general public, "מצדה" ("Masada").

==== Epigraphic findings ====
Inside the synagogue, an [[ostracon]] bearing the inscription ''ma'aser cohen'' ({{Script/Hebrew|מעשר כוהן}}, [[tithe]] for the priest) was found, as were fragments of two scrolls: parts of [[Deuteronomy]] and of the [[Book of Ezekiel]] including the vision of the [[Dem Bones|"dry bones"]] ({{bibleverse|Deuteronomy|33–34}} and {{bibleverse|Ezekiel|35–38}}), found hidden in pits dug under the floor of a small room built inside the synagogue. In other [[Locus (archaeology)|loci]], fragments were found of the books of [[Book of Genesis|Genesis]], [[Leviticus]], [[Psalms]], and [[Sirach]], as well as of the [[Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice]].

In the area in front of the Northern Palace, 11 small ostraca were recovered, each bearing a single name. One reads "ben Ya'ir" ({{Script/Hebrew|בןיאיר}}) and could be short for Eleazar ben Ya'ir, the commander of the fortress. The other 10 names may be those of the men chosen by lot to kill the others and then themselves, as recounted by Josephus.

====Human remains====
[[File:Dan Hadani collection (990044331600205171).jpg|alt=Funeral to the human remains unearthed at Masada, 1969|thumb|upright|Funeral to the human remains unearthed at Masada, 1969. [[Menachem Begin]] and [[Yisrael Yeshayahu]] second and third in front from right.]]
The remains of a maximum of 28 people<ref name=Zias2000/> were unearthed at Masada, possibly 29 including a [[foetus]].<ref name="Tabor">[[James D. Tabor]], [https://pages.uncc.edu/james-tabor/archaeology-and-the-dead-sea-scrolls/masada-cave-20002001  Masada: Cave 2000/2001], on the website "The Jewish Roman World of Jesus", [[University of North Carolina at Charlotte]]. Posted no earlier than October 1994, accessed February 2019.</ref> The skeletal remains of 25 individuals were found in a cave outside and below the southern wall. The remains of another two males and a female were found in the bathhouse of the Northern Palace.<ref name="ZiasGorski"/>

Of the [[Public bathing|bathhouse]] remains, the males were variously estimated to have been of an age of either 40 and 20–22, or 22 and 11–12, or based on dental remains, between 16–18 of age.  One estimate for the female's age was 17–18 years.<ref name="ZiasGorski"/><ref name=Zias2000/> The skeletal remains of the males were incomplete. Only the hair, a full head of hair with braids, but no bones of the female were found.<ref name="ZiasGorski"/> 

Forensic analysis showed the hair had been shaved from the woman's head with a sharp instrument while she was still alive, a practice prescribed for captured women in the Bible ({{bibleverse|Deuteronomy|21:10–12}}) and the 2nd-century BCE [[Temple Scroll]]. The braids indicate that she was married.<ref name="ZiasGorski"/> Based on the evidence, anthropologist [[Joe Zias]] and forensic scientist Azriel Gorski believe the remains may have been Romans whom the rebels captured when they seized the garrison.<ref name="ZiasGorski">
Joseph (Joe) Zias and Azriel Gorski, [https://www.academia.edu/25836648/Capturing_a_Beautiful_Woman_at_Masada  Capturing a Beautiful Woman at Masada], [[Near Eastern Archaeology (journal)|Near Eastern Archaeology]] (NEA) (69:1), 2006, pp. 45–48.</ref><ref name=" Friedman ">{{cite news |last= Friedman |first= Matti |date=June 22, 2007 |title= Some Masada Remains Questioned by Study |newspaper= [[Washington Post]] |url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/22/AR2007062201113.html |access-date=March 22, 2010 }}</ref>

As to the sparse remains of 24 people{{dubious|Not 25? Same source is indicated!|date=February 2019}} found in the southern cave at the base of the cliff, excavator Yigael Yadin was unsure of their ethnicity. The rabbinical establishment concluded that they were remains of the Jewish defenders, and in July 1969, they were reburied as Jews in a state ceremony.<ref name=Zias2000>{{cite book |author=Joe Zias |chapter=Human Skeletal Remains from the Southern cave at Masada and the Question of Ethnicity |title=The Dead Sea scrolls fifty years after their discovery |editor=L. Schiffman, J. VanderKam and M. Emanuel |publisher=Israel Exploration Society |year=2000 |place=Jerusalem |pages=732–738}}</ref> Carbon dating of textiles found with the remains in the cave indicate they are contemporaneous with the period of the revolt, and pig bones were present, occasionally occurring for Roman burials due to pig sacrifices. This indicates that the remains may belong to non-Jewish Roman soldiers or civilians who occupied the site before or after the siege.<ref name=Zias2000/> Zias questioned whether as many as 24 individuals were present, since only 4% of that number of bones was recovered.<ref name=Zias2000/>

==== Roman-period palm seed ====
{{main|Judean date palm}}
A [[Judean date palm#Germination of 2000-year-old seeds|2,000-year-old Judean date palm seed]] discovered during archaeological excavations in the early 1960s was successfully [[germinate]]d into a [[date plant]], popularly known as "[[Methuselah]]" after the longest-living figure in the [[Hebrew Bible]]. At the time, it was the oldest known germination,<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/2000yearold-seed-grows-into-tree-of-life-for-scientists-846247.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080614174628/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/2000yearold-seed-grows-into-tree-of-life-for-scientists-846247.html |archive-date=June 14, 2008 |title=2,000-year-old seed grows into 'tree of life' for scientists |date=June 13, 2008 |access-date=2008-06-17 |publisher=Independent News |location=London |first=Steve |last=Connor }}</ref> remaining so until a new record was set in 2012.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/21/science/new-life-from-an-arctic-flower-that-died-32000-years-ago.html | title=Dead for 32,000 Years, an Arctic Plant Is Revived | date=February 20, 2012| access-date=2012-02-20 | newspaper=New York Times | location=New York| first=Nicholas| last=Wade}}</ref> As of February 2024, it remains the oldest germination from a seed.

==== Byzantine monastery ====
The remnants of a [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine church]] dating from the fifth and sixth centuries have been excavated on the plateau.

=== Archaeology vs. Josephus ===
==== No Hasmonean buildings found ====
Yadin's team could detect no architectural remains of the Hasmonean period, the only findings firmly dated to this period being the numerous coins of [[Alexander Jannaeus]].<ref name=Negev/> Researchers have speculated that the southwestern block of the Western Palace and the auxiliary buildings east and south of it could be Hasmonean, relying on similarities to the [[Hasmonean royal winter palaces|Twin Palaces]] at [[Jericho]].<ref name=Negev/> However, their excavators could make no archaeological discovery able to support this presumption.<ref name=Negev/>

====Inaccurate description====
According to Shaye Cohen, archaeology shows that Josephus' account is "incomplete and inaccurate". Josephus writes of only one palace; archaeology reveals two. His description of the northern palace contains several inaccuracies, and he gives exaggerated figures for the height of the walls and towers. Josephus' account is contradicted by the "skeletons in the cave, and the numerous separate fires".<ref>{{cite book | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=mmj4RcszCHgC| title = The significance of Yavneh and other essays in Jewish Hellenism | author = Shaye J.D. Cohen | page=143| isbn = 978-3-16-150375-7 | year = 2010 | publisher = Mohr Siebeck }}</ref>

==== Historicity of mass suicide ====
According to [[Josephus]], the [[siege of Masada]] by [[Roman Empire|Roman]] troops from 73 to 74 [[Common Era|CE]], at the end of the [[First Jewish–Roman War]], ended in the [[mass suicide]] of the 960 [[Sicarii]] rebels who were hiding there. However, the archaeological evidence relevant to this event is ambiguous<ref name="Sloane2017">{{cite news |last1=Sloane |first1=Elizabeth |date=May 16, 2017 |title=Did the Jews Kill Themselves at Masada Rather Than Fall Into Roman Hands? |url=https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/MAGAZINE-is-the-masada-tradition-true-1.5472686 |access-date=21 March 2021 |work=[[Haaretz Newspaper]]}}</ref><ref name="Magness2020">{{cite web |last1=Magness |first1=Jodi |date=May 27, 2020 |title=The Remarkable Story of Masada: Guest Post by Jodi Magness |url=https://ehrmanblog.org/the-story-of-masada-guest-post-by-jodi-magness/ |access-date=21 March 2021 |website=The Bart Ehrman Blog |publisher=The Bart Ehrman Foundation}}</ref> and rejected entirely by some scholars.<ref name="Sloane2017"/><ref name="Rodgers2007">{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/makinghistoryjos00rodg |title=Making History: Josephus And Historical Method |date=2007 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-15008-9 |editor=Zuleika Rodgers |page=[https://archive.org/details/makinghistoryjos00rodg/page/n411 397] |url-access=limited}}</ref> Eric Cline also believes that Josephus is retelling a similar event that happened to him during the [[Siege of Yodfat]]. There he and another soldier, the last survivors, decided to surrender rather than have one kill the other.<ref name="Cline">{{cite journal |last1=Cline |first1=Eric H |title=Decoding the ancient tale of mass suicide in the Judaean desert {{!}} Aeon Essays |journal=Aeon |date=20 Feb 2017 |url=https://aeon.co/essays/decoding-the-ancient-tale-of-mass-suicide-in-the-judaean-desert |language=en}}</ref>