An ancient massacre

During excavations carried out in 2017 near the Old City of Jerusalem, archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority unearthed a water tank with the bones of 124 individuals, some of them with traces of armed assault.

The cistern, located in the Russian Compound, was used at different times between the 2nd and 1st centuries BC. The filling of the highest layer, therefore more recent, contained ceramic fragments in use between the first century. B.C. and the first century A.D. In the second layer were the remains of 32 cremated individuals, a common practice during the Roman period.
Together with these there were also ceramic fragments and metal objects, datable to the mid-1st century. B.C. But the most interesting discovery concerns the third layer.
Here archaeologists have found the skeletons of 124 individuals whose decomposed and unconnected position of some anatomical parts led to think that they had been thrown into the cistern and not deposited with care.

The results of a systematic study conducted on 23 of these individuals, published in the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, confirmed this hypothesis.
In fact, from the osteological analysis, it was possible to ascertain that they had fatal wounds caused by cutting weapons or blunt objects.
16 of them had been beheaded. The composition of the group, which includes individuals of all age groups, from newborns to the elderly, and of both sexes, and the position and inclination of the wounds, would identify the scenario of a massacre of unarmed civilians.

The period in which the deposition of the bodies took place can shed light on the dramatic story. Archaeologists have estimated it to be a period between the late second century. B.C. and the beginning of the first century. BC, when Jerusalem was governed by the Hasmoneans, a Jewish family who came to power after the struggles against the Seleucids, around the middle of the second century. B.C. The period of their rule was characterized by conflicts and repressions. But until now, there was little archaeological evidence that could confirm it. The bodies found in the cistern may have been the victims of a massacre, used by political leaders as a tool of social repression.

Agnese Picco
NP November 2022