The expansive Teomim Cave, just 20 miles west of Jerusalem, has yielded a variety of objects that suggests it was the site of necromancy in the second through fourth centuries CE. In antiquity, caves were considered gateways to the underworld, and this sometimes led to the performance of necromantic or divinatory rituals in which mediums consulted the spirits of the dead. Such ceremonies frequently involved the kinds of objects that archaeologists found in Teomim Cave: oil lamps, human skulls, metal implements for repelling spirits, and bowls for pooling and reflecting water. According to local lore, Teomim Cave (the “Cave of […]
