A cursed tomb was recently discovered in an uncovered cave inside an archaic cemetery in Beit She’arim, Israel. It has been verified that it is indeed the first tomb to be uncovered in 65 years at the UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The tomb has been uncovered by archaeologists in Israel and it accompanies a blood-red colored warning to anyone who tries to desecrate the tomb.
The apparently cursed tomb has been discovered in an uncovered cave inside an archaic cemetery in Israel’s Beit She’arim. Reports suggest that this is the first tomb to be uncovered at the site.
Even though the cave was detected but the researchers over a year ago, the smaller divisions or caves inside the parent cave have been recently observed.
Archaeologists stated that discovering the tomb has been a very important event as it is the first to be discovered at the Heritage Site and the dead person in the tomb has been identified as a convert.
The front of the tomb is marked with a strange blood-red message warning people against opening the tomb.
The Inscription reads: “Yaakov Ha’Ger vows to curse anybody who would open this grave, so nobody will open it. 60 years old.”
The translation of ‘Yaakov Ha’Ger’ is Jacob the proselyte which indicates a convert to the religion of Judaism.
It is not known precisely who is responsible for the inscription but an archaeologist belonging to the University of Haifa stated that the message was inscribed in an effort to prevent any disturbances to the resting place of the deceased and desecration of the tomb.
Adi Erlich commented that the inscription on the tomb hails from the early Byzantine or the late Roman period, a time period in which the region of Christianity was strengthened.
It was to prevent others from opening the tomb at a later point, which happened quite often – re-using tombs through time, The inscription is from the late Roman or early Byzantine period, in which Christianity was strengthened. And here we find evidence that there are still people who choose to join the Jewish people. We know of converts in the Roman period mostly from funerary contexts, such as first-century AD Jerusalem, or third to fourth-century AD Rome. But this is the first proselyte from Beit She’arim, and they are not well attested from that time in Galilee. So this is real news. We just took care of the inscription and blocked the cave to keep it safe for the time being. No excavations are planned at the moment.
Adi Erlich
Faculty member, University of Haifa
Department of Archaeology
