Bar Kokhba hiding complexes
By 2005 hiding complexes had been identified in over 100 settlements across Judea, mainly concentrated in the Shephelah, Hebron Hills, and Beit El Mountains,[2] with fewer in Galilee.
[2] Carved into the rock – primarily the limestone and chalk typical for the region[2] – the complexes comprised interconnected chambers linked by narrow passages.
The revolt lasted for three years, and initially the rebels achieved great success, even gaining the support of the sages of the generation, led by Rabbi Akiva.
The rebels operated mainly in the Shephelah and to a lesser extent in Galilee, and in the years preceding the revolt they engaged in comprehensive and serious planning.
They collected weapons and hewed hiding complexes, in which they would live and from which they would go out to attack during the revolt, as described by the Roman historian Dio Cassius.
The assumption is that the "convenient places of the land" in Cassius' description are the hiding bases from which the rebels emerged quickly to seize important strategic positions, which gave them a significant advantage for continuing the fighting.
A meticulous review of the refuge systems shows that they are almost identical in their shape, size, and in the technology used by the hewers in both the Shephelah and Galilee, indicating the work of one guiding hand that built them.
Researchers Amos Kloner and Yigal Tepper believe that most Bar Kokhba coins that reached the markets following looting originate from the refuge systems, but this cannot be scientifically proven.
It weighs 803 grams, decorated with stylized roses and surrounded by an inscription in square Hebrew script: "Shimon son of Kosba, Prince of Israel and his redemption of Jerusalem".
To avoid unnecessary effort hewing the caliche layer, locals made narrow openings in it, expanding the hewn-out spaces once they reached the soft chalk.
The unique structure of wide spaces with stable, narrow openings, allowed maintaining the chalk's moisture content, preventing its disintegration.
These artificial caves were used by residents as storerooms and underground facilities for a wide variety of uses like cisterns, storage rooms, winepresses, columbaria, stables, and more.
[citation needed] Bar Kokhba's rebels, many of whom lived in Shephelah settlements, used the underground facilities to create hiding complexes, as a sort of "secondary use".
They sealed the openings of the original facilities, connecting them through tunnels and narrow passages, creating long systems based on existing cavities, which saved much time and effort.
Some include level differences via vertical passage shafts, which were utilized to incorporate locking mechanisms, or simply deep pits, lethal traps for one unfamiliar with the tunnel.
This height, in addition to the small area of the rooms, apparently reflects calculation of dimensions according to the minimal need for human habitation, sometimes to the point of stooped walking and standing.
The need for ventilation arose, therefore, only when the revolt erupted, as fighters and their families filled the hiding complex, blocking their openings, and lit oil lamps inside, which also consumed oxygen.
[21] The simplest locking mechanism was a large stone slab, leaning on a sunken ledge to prevent it from falling inwards into the entrance shaft.
[citation needed] A sophisticated locking mechanism, enabling the rolling of a round stone within a track across the opening, so it could not be made to fall forward or backward: Rolling mechanisms have mainly been discovered in the region at the entrance to Second Temple period burial caves, or as barriers for residential buildings or agricultural produce concealment facilities against thieves.
Cassius Dio, describing them, stated: "The Jews introduced light into the refuge systems via shafts, hewn specially for this purpose."
The problem today, with the transformation of hiding complexes into tourist sites, is that many visitors place lamps in niches, erasing the original soot marks.
It is reasonable to assume this technique was known and accepted in hewing underground facilities in general, adopted by Bar Kokhba's hiding complex workers.
The storage and hoarding facilities hewn as part of the system plan are nearly identical to regular living quarters, except for the very prominent lack of ventilation conditions vital for human dwelling.
It can be assumed that these facilities were hewn as part of the hiding complexes, but their ornamental hewing style, location and designed lighting fixtures reveal their original use.
Sometimes the water storage facility was filled up before the revolt, and at other times an external runoff channel system was incorporated, perhaps for fear that the quantity collected in advance would not suffice.
Research indicates a method of digging the hiding complexes based on their size, integration of existing spaces and removal of hewn material.
[7] The existence of the many extensive hiding complexes raises many questions, including – how did the rebels manage to hew such a large, ingenious amount of refuge systems in such a short time?
[22] The accepted explanation for the Roman victory is that they located the ventilation openings, lit bonfires near them and directed the smoke inside the complexes, until oxygen depletion killed the rebels or forced them out to surrender.
[23] However, at Horvat Eked, a hiding complex entrance was found blocked by large limestone boulders, laboriously dismantled from a nearby building.
In any case, it appears after suppressing the revolt the Romans allowed Jews to collect their dead from inside the refuge systems for burial, so today it is impossible to know the number of deaths and precise circumstances.
