A recent dig in Israel may have discovered the long sought-for Maccabee tomb, said Israel’s government Antiquities Authority to the Associated Press. Further investigation is needed to confirm the veracity of the claim.
“The Maccabees are heroes in Christianity and Judaism. The Jewish holiday of Hanukkah commemorates Matthias and his five sons who revolted against Hellenic rulers who banned Jewish practices, and rededicated the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem,” said AP.
Taylor Polson, a junior from Colorado studying international cultural studies who went to BYU Jerusalem, thought that the find was significant because “there aren’t too many other sites that people have been able to associate with the Maccabees.”
“One dig can completely change the experience and the way we look at the holy land itself,” said Daniel Malinconico, a recent graduate. “It changes with more information.”
The site is may be the tomb because clues mentioned in the Bible and in the writings of Josephus Flavius’s, an ancient historian, seem to be present reported AP. The tomb was described as a building with columns and a pyramid, and the thick column bases around the dig site suggests there was once a building over 15 feet tall with rock slabs that now no longer exist there, according to AP.
Josephus Flavius mentioned in his history that the site also had a view to the Mediterranean Sea, and the without the modern-day forest, the site would be able to see the sea, reported AP. However, archeologists cannot date the site earlier than fifth century A.D. and would need further research and excavation to find more clues, said AP.
Some of the students who have gone to BYU Jerusalem may see this find as only another way to justify Jewish occupation in Palestine. “Playing in the sandbox is really important for Israel because that is the only justification Israel actually has for being there,” said Chris Udall, a senior studying international cultural studies from Arizona who went to BYU Jerusalem.
European explorers first started searching for the tomb in the late 1880s, and started digging in the West Bank in the village of Midya, a name that resembled Modiin, which is the ancient town where the Maccabee family was buried, according to the Bible, reported AP. Nowadays, their dig is marked by signs and Hanukkah ceremonies are held there to honor the Maccabees, reported AP.
Another dig was conducted in a near Arab tomb, and the archaeologist claimed that they found the remains of Mattathias, but later on was ruled by other archaeologists that the burial site had no connection to Mattathias.
Charles Clermont-Ganneau, a French scholar, started to excavate in a new area close to the second dig, and found a mosaic floor with a Byzantine Christian cross, reported AP. Abandoned, it was picked up more than 100 years later by modern archeologists. The cross was said to be a clue, where a Byzantine-era site would decorate the floor of a burial vault to mark the spot of an important figure, suggesting the Byzantines would have identified the site as the Maccabee’s tomb, reported AP.