From 132 to 136 CE, Simon bar Kokhba led a revolt against Roman rule of Judea; despite its initial success, the rebellion resulted in a devastating defeat that effectively ended aspirations for an imminent return of Jewish independence. Returning to the caves in the Judean desert, first discovered decades ago, that bar Kokhba’s troops used as hideouts, Israeli archaeologists are hoping to get to any remaining artifacts before looters do. At the focus of the project is the Cave of Skulls, so called because of the human remains found there in 1953. Ilan Ben Zion writes:

Uri Davidovich, [who] headed the excavation, explained that it yielded a trove of items shedding light on daily life for the inhabitants of the cave, likely refugees fleeing the Roman army during the second Jewish revolt against Rome.

“Among the things [we have found] connected to day-to-day life were pottery fragments and a few stone tools, [but] mostly objects that characterize Judean desert caves where, because of the dry conditions, organic materials are preserved: textiles, cords, fabrics, braids, leather and wood items,” Davidovich said over the bustle of activity. Also on that list were spindle whorls for weaving, awls, scraps of leather and papyrus, and a wooden comb. The vast majority of the finds were animal bones, some the remnants of the Judeans’ dinner, others brought in by hyenas or other wild animals over the centuries. A few human bones were unearthed as well.

Davidovich speculated that several dozen refugees likely lived in the cave for several months during the tumultuous period of Rome’s crackdown on the uprising. They probably came from villages south of modern-day Hebron, several kilometers north of the cave, bringing food and water with them. (There’s also a spring at the bottom of the gorge, about 250 meters below.) . . .

Sixty years ago, much of the seemingly insignificant material archaeologists hold on to today—olive stones, seeds, and other fragments of organic material—would have been cast away and ignored. Specialists at the Hebrew University’s labs will . . . now scrutinize those tiny objects to suss out data that will help construct a more complete portrait of the cave’s inhabitants.

Early Friday morning, Israel attacked military installations near the Iranian cities of Isfahan and nearby Natanz, the latter being one of the hubs of the country’s nuclear program. Jerusalem is not taking credit for the attack, and none of the details are too certain, but it seems that the attack involved multiple drones, likely launched from within Iran, as well as one or more missiles fired from Syrian or Iraqi airspace. Strikes on Syrian radar systems shortly beforehand probably helped make the attack possible, and there were reportedly strikes on Iraq as well.

Iran itself is downplaying the attack, but the S-300 air-defense batteries in Isfahan appear to have been destroyed or damaged. This is a sophisticated Russian-made system positioned to protect the Natanz nuclear installation. In other words, Israel has demonstrated that Iran’s best technology can’t protect the country’s skies from the IDF. As Yossi Kuperwasser puts it, the attack, combined with the response to the assault on April 13,

clarified to the Iranians that whereas we [Israelis] are not as vulnerable as they thought, they are more vulnerable than they thought. They have difficulty hitting us, but we have no difficulty hitting them.

Nobody knows exactly how the operation was carried out. . . . It is good that a question mark hovers over . . . what exactly Israel did. Let’s keep them wondering. It is good for deniability and good for keeping the enemy uncertain.

The fact that we chose targets that were in the vicinity of a major nuclear facility but were linked to the Iranian missile and air forces was a good message. It communicated that we can reach other targets as well but, as we don’t want escalation, we chose targets nearby that were involved in the attack against Israel. I think it sends the message that if we want to, we can send a stronger message. Israel is not seeking escalation at the moment.