holy ground? Or was he uncomfortable with the idea of the cave folks and the palace folks sharing the same grave?
Charlie broke my chain of thought with a line from “Hey, Big Spender.”
“Did anything else turn up with the cave bones?” I asked.
“A lot of domestic utensils. Cooking pots, lamps, basketry.”
“Suggesting the caves had been lived in.”
Jake nodded.
“By whom?”
“It was wartime. Jerusalem was toast. Al sorts of refugees might have fled to high ground. Some might have lived apart from the zealot community.”
Ah-hah. “So those in the cave could have been non-Jews?”
Solemn nod.
“Not what Israel wanted to publicize.”
“Not at al . Masada had become its sacred emblem. Jews making their last stand, choosing suicide over surrender. The site was a metaphor for the new state. Until recently, the Israeli military held special ceremonies inducting troops into their elite units on top of Masada.”
“Ouch.”
“According to Tsafrir, the cave bones were in disarray, with clothing fragments intermingled among them, as though the bodies had been dumped,” Jake said. “That’s not a typical pattern for Jewish burial.”
Birdie chose that moment to hop onto my lap.
I made introductions. Jake scratched the cat’s ear, then picked up his thread.
“To date, the Israel Exploration Society has published five volumes on the Masada excavation. Volume three notes that the caves were surveyed and excavated, but, aside from that, and a map with an outline drawing of Cave 2001, there’s no mention anywhere of anything found at that locus, human or material.”
Jake leaned back and picked up his mug. Lowered it.
“Wait. Change that. There is an addendum at the back of volume four. A carbon-fourteen report on textiles found in the cave. That testing was done years later. But that’s it.”
Displacing Birdie to the floor, I slid Kessler’s photo from below Jake’s Masada diagram.
“So where does this guy fit in?”
“That’s where things get real y weird. Cave 2001 contained the remains of one ful y intact skeleton completely separate from the intermingled bones. The individual was supine, with hands crossed, head turned to the side.” Jake impaled me with a look. “Not a single report mentions that articulated skeleton.”
“I assume you learned about the skeleton from this same volunteer who worked the cave back in the sixties.”
Jake nodded.
“This is the part where you tel me that the articulated skeleton wasn’t reburied with the others,” I guessed.
“This is the part.” Jake drained his mug. “Press coverage of the reinterment consistently refers to twenty-seven individuals, three from the northern palace, and twenty-four from the cave.”
“Not twenty-five or twenty-six. Maybe they left out the fetus.”
“I’m convinced they left out the fetusand the articulated skeleton.”
“Let me get this straight. You’re saying a volunteer excavator, an eyewitness, told you personal y that he and Tsafrir recovered a ful y articulated skeleton from Cave 2001. But no such skeleton was ever mentioned in press coverage, or in Yadin’s official report or popular book.”
Jake nodded.
“And you think that skeleton was not reburied with the rest of the cave and palace bones?”
Jake nodded again.
I tapped the Kessler photo. “Did this volunteer remember if photos were taken?”
“He snapped them himself.”
“Who had possession of the remains during their five years above-ground?” I asked.
“Haas.”
“Did he publish?”
“Nothing. And Haas typical y wrote exhaustive reports, including drawings, tables, measurements, even facial reconstructions. His analysis of the burials at Giv’at ha-Mivtar is incredibly detailed.”
“Is he stil alive?”
“Haas took a bad fal in seventy-five. Put him in a coma. He died in eighty-seven without regaining consciousness. Or writing a report.”
“So Haas won’t be clearing
Charlie broke my chain of thought with a line from “Hey, Big Spender.”
“Did anything else turn up with the cave bones?” I asked.
“A lot of domestic utensils. Cooking pots, lamps, basketry.”
“Suggesting the caves had been lived in.”
Jake nodded.
“By whom?”
“It was wartime. Jerusalem was toast. Al sorts of refugees might have fled to high ground. Some might have lived apart from the zealot community.”
Ah-hah. “So those in the cave could have been non-Jews?”
Solemn nod.
“Not what Israel wanted to publicize.”
“Not at al . Masada had become its sacred emblem. Jews making their last stand, choosing suicide over surrender. The site was a metaphor for the new state. Until recently, the Israeli military held special ceremonies inducting troops into their elite units on top of Masada.”
“Ouch.”
“According to Tsafrir, the cave bones were in disarray, with clothing fragments intermingled among them, as though the bodies had been dumped,” Jake said. “That’s not a typical pattern for Jewish burial.”
Birdie chose that moment to hop onto my lap.
I made introductions. Jake scratched the cat’s ear, then picked up his thread.
“To date, the Israel Exploration Society has published five volumes on the Masada excavation. Volume three notes that the caves were surveyed and excavated, but, aside from that, and a map with an outline drawing of Cave 2001, there’s no mention anywhere of anything found at that locus, human or material.”
Jake leaned back and picked up his mug. Lowered it.
“Wait. Change that. There is an addendum at the back of volume four. A carbon-fourteen report on textiles found in the cave. That testing was done years later. But that’s it.”
Displacing Birdie to the floor, I slid Kessler’s photo from below Jake’s Masada diagram.
“So where does this guy fit in?”
“That’s where things get real y weird. Cave 2001 contained the remains of one ful y intact skeleton completely separate from the intermingled bones. The individual was supine, with hands crossed, head turned to the side.” Jake impaled me with a look. “Not a single report mentions that articulated skeleton.”
“I assume you learned about the skeleton from this same volunteer who worked the cave back in the sixties.”
Jake nodded.
“This is the part where you tel me that the articulated skeleton wasn’t reburied with the others,” I guessed.
“This is the part.” Jake drained his mug. “Press coverage of the reinterment consistently refers to twenty-seven individuals, three from the northern palace, and twenty-four from the cave.”
“Not twenty-five or twenty-six. Maybe they left out the fetus.”
“I’m convinced they left out the fetusand the articulated skeleton.”
“Let me get this straight. You’re saying a volunteer excavator, an eyewitness, told you personal y that he and Tsafrir recovered a ful y articulated skeleton from Cave 2001. But no such skeleton was ever mentioned in press coverage, or in Yadin’s official report or popular book.”
Jake nodded.
“And you think that skeleton was not reburied with the rest of the cave and palace bones?”
Jake nodded again.
I tapped the Kessler photo. “Did this volunteer remember if photos were taken?”
“He snapped them himself.”
“Who had possession of the remains during their five years above-ground?” I asked.
“Haas.”
“Did he publish?”
“Nothing. And Haas typical y wrote exhaustive reports, including drawings, tables, measurements, even facial reconstructions. His analysis of the burials at Giv’at ha-Mivtar is incredibly detailed.”
“Is he stil alive?”
“Haas took a bad fal in seventy-five. Put him in a coma. He died in eighty-seven without regaining consciousness. Or writing a report.”
“So Haas won’t be clearing
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