Cave of Letters in the context of "Three age system"

The three-age system is the division of human prehistory (with some overlap into the historical periods in a few regions) into three time-periods: the Stone Age, the Bronze Age and the Iron Age, although the concept may also refer to other tripartite divisions of historic time periods. In some systems, a fourth Copper Age is added as between the Stone Age and Bronze Age. The Copper, Bronze and Iron Ages are also known collectively as the Metal Ages.

In history, archaeology and physical anthropology, the three-age system is a methodological concept adopted during the 19th century according to which artefacts and events of late prehistory and early history could be broadly ordered into a recognizable chronology. C. J. Thomsen initially developed this categorization in the period 1816 to 1825, as a result of classifying the collection of an archaeological exhibition chronologically – there resulted broad sequences with artefacts made successively of stone, bronze, and iron.

The Judaean Desert or Judean Desert (Hebrew: מִדְבַּר יְהוּדָה, romanized: Midbar Yehuda, Arabic: برية الخليل, romanized: Bariyat al-Khalil) is a desert in the West Bank and Israel that stretches east of the ridge of the Judaean Mountains and in their rain shadow, so east of Jerusalem, and descends to the Dead Sea.

The Judaean Desert has historically functioned as a place of refuge for rebels and displaced populations. According to the Hebrew Bible, David took shelter there while fleeing from King Saul. The Hasmonean rulers of Judaea, and their successor, Herod the Great, built several monumental fortresses in the region, including Herodium, Hyrcania, and Masada. In the period of the Jewish–Roman Wars, the desert became a key theater of conflict, with Roman forces besieging major strongholds. Caves in the area, such as the Cave of Letters and the Cave of Horrors, later served as hiding places for Jewish refugees, preserving personal documents, religious texts, skeletons, weapons, clothing, and household items—thanks to the region's arid climate. The desert also attracted religious sects, including the classical-era Jewish ascetics of Qumran (likely Essenes) and Byzantine-era Christian monks who practiced spiritual isolation in local lavras.

Babatha bat Shimʿon, also known as Babata (c. 104 – after 132) was a Jewish woman who lived in the town of Maḥoza at the southeastern tip of the Dead Sea in what is now Jordan at the beginning of the 2nd century CE.

In 1960, archaeologist Yigael Yadin discovered a leather pouch containing her documents in what came to be known as the Cave of Letters, near the Dead Sea. The documents found include such legal contracts concerning marriage (ketubah), property transfers, and guardianship. These documents, ranging from 96 to 134, depict a vivid picture of life for an upper-middle class Jewish woman during that time. They also provide an example of the Roman bureaucracy and legal system under which she lived.

The Bar Kokhba refuge caves are natural caves that were used for shelter by Jewish refugees during the later phases of the Bar Kokhba revolt. Most of the refuge caves were located in the Judaean Desert, nestled within steep cliffs far away from settlements, many overlooking the Dead Sea and the Jordan Valley. Some were also found in ravines flowing into the Dead Sea, while others were nestled within the Judaean Mountains. Unlike the other two hideout systems used by the rebels, the man-made rock-cut hiding complexes, and the hard-to-reach cliff shelters which often contain hewn installations, the refuge caves remained largely untouched by human intervention.

Jews taking shelter in refuge caves aimed to escape the Roman army during its suppression of the revolt. These caves are thought to have offered sanctuary to those in the eastern Judaean Mountains and the Jordan Valley. Some caves show signs of successful refuge, while others contain skeletal remains of adults and children, indicating deaths due to starvation, thirst, or encounters with Roman forces, as evidenced by the construction of siege camps and the discovery of arrowheads embedded in cave ceilings.