Everyone is aware of the Dead Sea Scrolls, but few realise that these were just one find in a region which continues to yield hundreds of finds significant to our understanding of lives in the first centuries CE, the Jewish revolts and the relationships between the peoples involved in the area. The Cave of Letters is one such site in Israel which has yielded a large number of papyrus letters and documents.

每个人都知道死海古卷，但很少有人意识到这只是该地区的一个发现，该地区不断产生着数以百计的发现，对我们了解基督教时代早期几个世纪的生活、犹太人叛乱和相互关系具有重要意义。人们在书信洞穴发掘出了大量的纸莎草信件和文件。

发     现

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The Cave of Letters was discovered in Israel in the early 1960s CE and was excavated by the famed Israeli archaeologist Yigael Yadin from 1960-1961 CE. Yadin devoted himself to research and archaeology upon leaving the military and received the Israel Prize in Jewish studies for his doctoral thesis on the translation of the Dead Sea scrolls. Apart from the Cave of Letters, Yadin excavated numerous important sites in the region which included Tel Megiddo, Masada, the Qumran Caves and Hazor. Yadin discovered the cave when he launched an urgent search of the dead sea caves in order to rescue artefacts of historical significance before they were looted by increasing numbers of treasure hunters in the region. The cave may be one of the 64 locations which were inscribed on a copper scroll found in another cave near the Dead Sea village of Qumran. This is believed to be due to the similarities in location and shape of the cave entrances as two columns in addition to the placement of bronze artefacts and stone vessels in the cave, which are also mentioned on the scroll.

书信洞穴于 20 世纪 60 年代初在以色列发现，由著名的以色列考古学家伊加尔·雅丁(Yigael Yadin)在公元1960-1961年间发掘的。雅丁离开军队后致力于研究和考古工作，并因其关于死海古卷翻译的博士论文而获得以色列犹太研究奖。除了书信洞穴之外，雅丁还在该地区挖掘了许多重要遗址，包括米吉多遗址、马萨达遗址、库姆兰石窟和特尔夏佐尔 (Tel Hazor)。雅丁在对死海洞穴进行紧急搜索时发现了这个洞穴，以便在该地区越来越多的寻宝者将其掠夺之前抢救具有历史意义的文物。这个洞穴可能是在死海库姆兰村附近的另一个洞穴中发现的铜卷上所刻的64个地点之一。据信，这是由于洞穴入口的位置和形状相似，都是两根柱子，此外，卷轴上也提到了洞穴中青铜器和石器的放置情况。

考古发掘

The Cave of Letters was found above a canyon called Nahal Hever. The cave is located in the area of the Dead Sea in the Judean desert and can only be assessed via a 50 ft ( m) climb up to the cave's entrance. During the 1960-61 CE excavations, Yadin uncovered a number of human skulls and bones and common objects of daily life alongside what he believed to be bronze ritual items. Yadin's team also uncovered clusters of papyrus letters which made up the largest cache of ancient personal correspondence and documents ever found in Israel. These letters are slowly being published, a process yet to be completed. Among the letters include correspondence from Bar Kochba, a messianic leader of the third Jewish revolt against the Romans in the second century CE. Judea was part of the Roman empire but the Jewish people lived uncomfortably with their Roman rulers as a subject nation. Among the documents in the Cave of Letters were found military orders signed by Bar Kochba as Shimon Bar Kochba, Simon son of a star.

书信洞穴是在一个叫Nahal Hever（希伯来语：נחל חבר）的峡谷上方发现的。该洞穴位于朱迪亚沙漠中的死海地区，只能通过爬升到达洞穴入口才能进入。在1960-61年的挖掘过程中，雅丁发现了一些人类头骨和身体骸骨以及日常生活中常见的物品，以及他认为是青铜仪式物品的东西。雅丁的团队还发现了成组的纸莎草信件，这些信件构成了以色列迄今为止发现的规模最大的古代信件和个人文件储存库。这些信件正在慢慢出版，但这一过程尚未完成。其中一封信是巴尔·科赫巴 (Bar Kochba) 写的，他是公元二世纪第三次犹太反抗罗马人的弥赛亚领袖。犹地亚地区是罗马帝国的一部分，但犹太人对罗马统治者作为臣民国家感到不安。在书信洞穴的文件中，发现了巴尔·科赫巴签署的军事命令，他的名字是“西蒙·巴尔·科赫巴”，“西蒙之子”。

信件的内容

Surprisingly to some scholars the letters have quite a harsh tone and include threatening letters to Yehonatan who was the leader of En Geddi. In 2000-2001 CE the archaeologist and Professor of Jewish History, Richard Freund, from the University of Hartford, led a team under the John and Carol Merrill Expedition to find out more about the Cave of Letters. On returning to the cave with an international team of archaeologists and scholars, Freund uncovered new evidence about the use of the cave and located a large number of new artefacts. Freund explains that the Cave of Letters is a massive cave with two openings in the sheer cliff wall with three internal chambers connected by narrow passageways with the cavern complex cutting more than 300 yards (274 m) deep into the cliff-side. Freund had the chance to explore new areas to excavate which Yadin did not get a chance to. Yadin was unable to explore beneath the thick layer of rubble on the cave floor caused by centuries of earthquakes. In some areas the rubble was as thick at 15ft ( m). Freund also had access to ground-penetrating radar and electrical resistivity tomography which allowed him to excavate and survey beyond Yadin's means. Freund and Yadin's excavations turned up artefacts that are significant to the history of the relationship between Judaism and Christianity and the politics of the modern Middle East.

令一些学者感到惊讶的是，这些信件的用语相当严厉，其中包括对恩戈地（En Gedi）领导人Yehonatan的威胁信。2000-2001年，来自哈特福德大学的考古学家和犹太历史教授理查德·弗罗因德（Richard Freund）带领一支由约翰·梅里尔和卡罗尔·梅里尔（John and Carol Merrill）组成的探险队，去寻找有关书信洞穴的更多信息。在与一个国际考古学家和学者团队返回洞穴时，弗罗因德发现了该洞穴使用的新证据，并发现了许多新文物。弗罗因德解释说，书信洞穴是一个巨大的洞穴，在峭壁上有两个开口，内部有三个房间，由狭窄的通道连接，洞穴群在悬崖边切入超过300码（274米）深。弗罗因德有机会探索新的挖掘区域，而雅丁却没有机会。雅丁无法在洞穴地面上由几个世纪的地震造成的厚厚的碎石层下进行探索。在某些地区，瓦砾厚达15英尺（米）。弗罗因德还可以使用探地雷达和电阻率断层扫描技术，这使他能够进行更深层次地挖掘和调查。弗罗因德和雅丁的发掘工作，为研究犹太教和基督教之间的关系以及现代中东政治的历史提供了重要的文物。

One of the most significant corpuses of letters found in the cave are the personal documents of a Jewish woman who lived in the port town of Maoza. This woman was named Babatha. The documents give a vivid picture of the life of an upper-middle class Jewish woman during the second century CE. They date from around 96-134 CE and give examples of Roman bureaucracy and legal systems by including legal contracts concerning marriage, property transfers and guardianship. They show that Babatha was born around 104 CE and inherited her father's date palm orchard. She married for the first time in 124 CE and was widowed with a son named Jesus. She remarried in 125 CE to a man named Judah who already had another wife and a teenage daughter. There are also loan documents showing that Judah borrowed money from Babatha who was clearly in control of her own money. She got this money back upon Judah's death in the form of his estates. Other documents in the Babatha archive include those concerning the guardianship of her son and a dispute between her and Judah's first wife Miriam over Judah's estates.

在洞穴中发现的最重要的信札之一，是一位居住在港口城市Maoza（希腊语名：Μαωzeα）的犹太妇女的个人文件。这名妇女名叫巴巴莎（Babatha）（也称为巴巴塔（Babata））。这些文件生动地描述了公元二世纪时一个中上层犹太妇女的生活。它们的历史可以追溯到公元 96-134 年左右，并提供了罗马官僚机构和法律体系的例子，包括与婚姻、财产转移和监护权有关的法律合同。它们显示，巴巴莎大约出生于公元104年，继承了她父亲的枣椰园。她于 124 年第一次结婚，并成为寡妇，育有一子，名叫耶稣。她在公元125年再婚，嫁给一名叫犹大的男人，后者已经有了另一位妻子和一个十几岁的女儿。还有一些贷款文件显示，犹大向巴巴莎借钱，而巴巴莎显然掌握着自己的财产。在犹大死后，她以遗产的形式拿回了这笔钱。巴巴莎档案中的其他文件包括那些关于她儿子的监护权以及她和犹大的第一任妻子米利暗（Miriam）之间关于犹大遗产的纠纷。

洞穴的用途

The use of the Cave of Letters is still under some debate but the artefacts are revealing. The most common theory is that the cave was used as a hideaway by Jewish refugees who were escaping oppressive Roman rule. Babatha would have been in the area in 132 CE at the time of the Bar-Kochba Revolt. It is possibly that she fled or was killed as the documents in the cave were never recovered and were found alongside 20 skeletons which suggest that she or others perished while taking refuge in the cave. What is interesting about the skeletal remains is the complete lack of signs for violent trauma suggesting that they died of starvation. The cave being used as a refuge is also suggested by signs of animals and cooking preparations including a piece of a circular oven. Freund found a number of items indicative of everyday life including rope and papyrus fragments, fabrics, a wooden comb, signs of living areas and a child's sandal. The sandal is particularly significant because evidence of women and children in the area is rare.

书信洞穴的用途仍有一些争论，但这些文物是有启示意义的。最广泛接受的理论是，逃离罗马压迫的犹太难民使用这个洞穴作为藏身之处。公元 132 年，巴尔·科赫巴叛乱发生时，巴巴莎就在该地区。她可能是逃亡或被杀害了，因为洞穴中的文件从未被找到，而且与 20 具骷髅一起被发现，表明她或其他人在洞穴避难时丧生。骨骼遗骸的特殊之处在于完全没有暴力创伤的迹象，这表明他们死于饥饿。动物和烹饪准备的迹象也表明该洞穴曾被用作避难所，包括一座圆形的烤炉。弗罗因德发现了一系列代表日常生活的元素，例如绳索和纸莎草的碎片、织物、一把木梳、生活区的迹象和儿童凉鞋。这双凉鞋特别重要，因为该地区妇女和儿童的遗迹很少。

The Cave of Letters also provides direct evidence of Bar Kochba's early triumphs supposedly with a Bar Kochba coin found in the A-B passage. This is one of eight coins found in the cave. The inscription on the coin reads 'for the freedom of Jerusalem'. Clearly the Cave of Letters is a trove of information and significance.

书信洞穴还提供了巴尔·科赫巴(Bar Kochba)早期胜利的直接证据，据说是在 AB 通道中发现了一枚巴尔·科赫巴 (Bar Kochba) 硬币。这是洞穴中发现的八枚硬币中的一枚。硬币上的铭文是“为了耶路撒冷的自由”。很明显，字母洞穴是一个充满大量信息和具有深远意义的宝库。

原文网址：/Cave_of_Letters/

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