Roi Porat

Archaeological record of earthquake ruptures in Tell Ateret, the Dead Sea Fault

The archaeological Tell Ateret (North Israel), constructed on the active Dead Sea Fault, was intermittently settled for over six millennia. Structures on the Tell that have been offset by earthquake ruptures provide a remarkable record of alternating construction and slip. We excavated the site in order to resolve the geometry and to time the earthquake rupture history back to the earliest settlement. The measurements of faulted archaeological walls are complemented with data from historical documents, numismatic analysis, and geological observations. We report three newly discovered offsets that add to two previously resolved slip events (the 20 May 1202 and 30 October 1759 earthquakes), completing a three millennia archaeoseismic record. The oldest offset measuring at least ~2 m bisected Iron Age IIA fortifications. The second offset, the largest of all five, reaching ~2.5 m, is dated to circa 142 BCE The third, whose post-Hellenistic date is not determined, is of ~1.5 m, possibly resulting from multiple earthquakes. We constrain the time of the largest offset by a hoard of 45 coins, the latest of which had been minted 143/142 BCE. Indicative pottery and historic texts support the year 143/142 as terminus post-quem of the rupture at this site. These observations, together with a new kinematic approach, show uneven slip distribution in time and variable amounts of slip along the Jordan Gorge segment of the Dead Sea Fault. We suggest, based on previous palaeomagnetic measurements, that distributed deformation west of Tell Ateret can explain the apparent missing slip of 4.5 ± 3.5 m since the Hellenistic times.

FINDS FROM THE BAR KOKHBA REVOLT FROM TWO CAVES AT EN GEDI

Abstract Finds from two caves that were excavated in Ein Gedi in 2002 are described. Eleven bronze coins of the Bar-Kokhba Revolt, twelve arrowheads and fragments of two papyrus documents were recovered in the Har Yishay Cave, located along the northern slopes of Nahal David. A hoard of nine silver coins, including a Bar-Kokhba tetradrachm, were found in the Sabar Cave. This is the second Bar-Kokhba tetradrachm to have been found in the context of a scientifically controlled archaeological project. Along with it were six Roman dinars and two dinars overstruck by Bar Kokhba. From the evidence of one of the Bar Kokhba documents dated to the third year of the revolt, it is possible to estimate that when this hoard was deposited in the cave, the total value of the coins exceeded that of a house!

The Judean Desert—The Major Hypogene Cave Region of the Southern Levant

The Judean Desert in eastern Israel consists of a Late Cretaceous epicontinental carbonate terrain formed at the interface between the Neotethys Ocean and the Gondwanian African-Arabian plate. Various rock types were deposited through fluctuations between marine and continental environments due to ingressions and regressions. Orogenic folding of the Syrian Arc fold system occurred between the Late Cretaceous and the Neogene. The folds formed a barrier for deep flowing groundwater, which upwelled along the SE flank of the folds. Possibly mixing with local confined circulation, the hypogene flow created maze caves at the top of the Late Cretaceous limestone, under the confinement of thick chalk, and marl successions. The larger caves are up to 3.5-km-long 2D mazes, less commonly with some additional tiers. Speleogenesis occurred most likely during the Oligocene, when far-field recharge could reach the Judean Desert. During the Neogene, the Dead Sea transform has dissected the region, forming a deep endorheic depression at the eastern border of the Judean Desert. This was followed by the lowering of the water table and related dewatering of the caves. Fault escarpments and downcutting canyons have dissected the caves, forming the present entrances. The caves are mostly dry, with rare speleothems. Gypsum rinds indicate that hydrogen sulfide and sulfuric acid took part in speleogenesis.