A large cave in Israel was seen as a “portal to the underworld” by a strange cult during the Roman era, a new study claims.
Archaeologists have analyzed artifacts taken from the Te’omim cave in the Jerusalem hills, including oil lamps, axes and even three human skulls.
Around 2,000 years ago, members of the cult placed the objects in the cave during attempts to summon the dead, an ancient practice known as ‘necromancy’.
Caves have been thought of as locations for this ‘magic ritual’ because they were considered to provide access to the subsoil and therefore the ‘underworld’.
It follows the discovery of 11,000-year-old human remains in a cave in Cumbria, believed to have belonged to a man who reoccupied Britain after the last Ice Age.
Israel’s Te’omim cave (pictured) has “cult and physical elements” that suggest it served as a “portal to the underworld,” experts say.
In the photo, oil lamps found under the top of a human skull (frontal and parietal bones) in the cave.
The new study has been authored by a pair of archaeologists: Eitan Klein of the Israel Antiquities Authority and Boaz Zissu of Bar-Ilan University.
‘Te’omim’s cave in the Jerusalem hills has all the necessary physical and cult elements to serve as a possible portal to the underworld,’ they say in their newspaper.
“The finds and their specific archaeological contexts provide a better understanding of the divination rites that likely took place in the cave.”
Also known as the cave of the twins, the Te’omim cave is located east of the city of Beit Shemesh, southwest of Jerusalem.
It is an underground space with a deep well at one end, with a spring that gushes out and its waters are collected in a pool excavated in the rock.
It was first excavated in 1873 by experts who mapped it and noted a deep shaft at its northern end, but it was only in the late 2000s that archaeologists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem began to study the site in detail.
More than 120 intact oil lamps were collected during reconnaissance efforts between 2010 and 2016 from all sections of the cave, most dating from the 2nd to 4th centuries AD.
“All of these lamps had been deliberately inserted into deep, narrow cracks in the walls of the main chamber or under rubble,” the authors say.
“Some crevices contained clusters of oil lamps mixed with weapons and ceramic vessels from earlier periods or set with human skulls.”
The team suggests that the oil lamps, weapons, vessels, coins and the three human skulls were used as part of the necromancy ceremonies that took place in the cave.
Since then, these artifacts date back approximately 2,000 years, during the Roman era.
Also known as the cave of the twins, the Te’omim cave is located east of the city of Beit Shemesh, southwest of Jerusalem.
Necromancy is the ancient practice of attempting to communicate with the dead. Caves have been thought of as locations for this ‘magic ritual’ because they were considered to provide access to the subsoil and therefore the ‘underworld’. In the image, a deep well in the northern part of the Te’omim cave
Here, an archaeologist is seen pulling an oil lamp out of a crevice between the rocks in the cave. All of these lamps had been deliberately inserted into deep, narrow cracks in the walls of the main chamber or under the rubble.
The cave entrance is a natural opening that was widened by a ‘cut’, by a person using some sort of tool, possibly an axe.
Upon entering, one descends to the north into a spacious chamber about 160 feet by 230 feet, most of which is covered by a huge pile of rocks.
Various passages and fissures in this rubble lead to “underground cracks and cavities” that are “rich in archaeological finds,” the team says.
The three human skulls were found inside hard-to-reach crevices and under large boulders in the central chamber, and were not accompanied by bones from other body parts.
It is likely that there were attempts to speak to those people to whom the skulls once belonged, the authors argue.
Similarly, the oil lamps had been deliberately deposited in deep, narrow crevices, most of which could only be accessed by crawling with difficulty.
“We had to use long sticks with iron hooks to get many of them out, and long sticks were probably used to insert them initially,” they add.
“The fact that these lamps were pushed and buried deep into these hidden and hard-to-reach crevices suggests that lighting up the dark cave was not their only purpose.”
The researchers note that it was common practice at the time to make interpretations of shapes created by the flames of an oil lamp as evidence of communications from the dead.
Meanwhile, the placement of metal axes inside the cave was an attempt to provide protection against evil spirits.
In their new study, published in Harvard Theological Reviewexperts admit that the classical sources barely mention the consecration of skulls.
However, this is because they were mainly used for secret rites related to necromancy and communication with the dead, they argue.
Te’omim’s cave is given as an example of a nekyomanteion or ‘oracle of the dead’: a shrine usually located in caves or next to water sources believed to be portals to the underworld.
The team suggests that the oil lamps, weapons, vessels, coins and the three human skulls were used as part of the necromancy ceremonies that took place in the cave. In the photo, oil lamps and a bowl.
Group of well-preserved and intact oil lamps discovered in Te’omim cave in the 2012 excavation season
This image shows a map of Te’omim’s cave and the location where the oil lamp and coins were discovered.
“They always included a well that led to the underworld, through which the dead could climb,” they say.
The historic location is already known to have played a role in the history of what is now the Jerusalem Hills region to the west of the famous city.
During the Bar-Kokhba revolt, for example, it served as a hideout for Jewish rebels, but experts believe that the cult members who used the cave were mainly non-Jewish residents of the area.
The team stresses the importance of recognizing “magic in archaeological context” because of its importance to ancient civilizations.
“The identification of the Te’omim cave as a local oracle (nekyomanteion) and analysis of the archaeological assemblage is, in our opinion, an outstanding test case worth examining within the developing discipline of archeology of magic. “, they conclude.
