THE IMPRINT OF MOSES' TABERNACLE
AT HAR KARKOM
THE HAMMADA, OPEN ARCHIVE OF THE PAST
Har Karkom is a particular kind of desert called “hammada”. The main characteristic of this terrain, covered by a compact layer of small pebbles (see picture aside), is that there isn’t any process of sedimentation or erosion. The surface has remain unchanged for tens of thousands of years and maintains in perfect state of conservation the traces of whoever has put there his tent,
or dwelling, in the last 50.000 years or more.
About 200 Palaeolithic villages, covering a period of more than 40.000 years, dot Har Karkom’s plateau. They look as if they had just been abandoned; all of them have provided a huge amount of tools, allowing their precise dating.
See on the following pictures one of such villages, formed by 6 large huts, and an aerial view of a small area where are clearly visible the traces of many huts, together with the Palaeolithic paths (they were kept clean of stones) and the traces of modern cars’ tyres.
a part the presence of tools and the shape.
The more recent sites, belonging to the Bronze age, Hellenistic and roman-byzantine epochs, are also in very good conditions and their age can only be established through pieces of flint and pottery found in their roundabouts.
In the following pictures a dwelling of the Bronze age can be seen (left) and on the right some monks’ dwellings aligned along a wadi, with two large structures of the bronze age on the back.
THE IMPRINT OF THE TABERNACLE
The hammada, then, preserves the traces of all the tents and structures that were erected there in the last thousands of years. If that was really the place where Moses took the Jews, and if the Bible’s account is historical, there had to be necessarily the imprint also of the tabernacle, as it is described in Exodus.
I had reconstructed the tabernacle, following the indications of Exodus, both in drawing and a physical model, long before joining for the first time Prof. Anati’s archaeological mission to Har Karkom. I was well aware that some minor details of my model was the result of arbitrary choices, and above all I didn’t know the real value of Moses’ cubit; but in any case I was highly confident that the general outline of my project was correct and so I knew what kind of imprint I had to expect.
According to Exodus 33,7, the Tabernacle was erected “outside the camp, far away from it”. Besides it had to be near the water, that is near the only well of that area: Beer Karkom. Together wit my brother Claudio, I started the search for the imprint in that area and immediately we had a positive result.
We went up to a hill, looking around for the imprint, and there it was, perfectly recognizable.
We surrounded the imprint on the ground with a plastic ribbon, following the plan as reconstructed on the base of the account. The match was perfect, down to smallest particular.
The centre of the tent, on the back where the two sides of the wall were joined together with 50 hooks, was marked by a small hip of stones. The alignments of the supporting stanchions were quite evident and perfect.
The Most Holy place was completely cleaned up by stones and pebbles, that had been moved to the sides; the Holy place was only partially cleaned by stones and pebbles, along the passages to get into the tent and to reach every single object inside.
A circle of stones in the antechamber indicated the place of the basin, that was supported by them. Smaller stones had been put also around the altar of the incense, and the table of bread, thus indicating not only their position but even their size. The candlestick was evidently placed on top of a boulder embedded on the ground in a side nave; a cleared path leaded to it.
Also the inner courtyard was cleared by stones, except for a round boulder, some 30 cm high, put on the side of the altar of the holocaust, evidently to facilitate the operations upon it.
Even the position of the pegs was marked by larger stones, well aligned.
At the sunrise and at the sunset the plastic ribbon was shining, therefore drawing the plan of the Tabernacle on the ground with the light; a really fantastic, magic view: an artefact built there more than 3000 years ago was reviving. On that very place Moses had changed the destinies of the humankind.
Thanks to the imprint on the ground I was able to rebuild the tabernacle in its true original dimensions and shape, in exactly the same place where it was built for the first time.
It was even possible to correct some mistakes that inevitably I had made in the tentative reconstruction, based on the Exodus account only. It is represented in the following picture, as it was published since 1989 in the book “la Bibbia senza segreti”
(Rusconi Ed. Milan).
Comparing it with the reconstruction made directly from the imprint on the ground we can see that the first reconstruction was not too far from the original artefact.
The first reconstruction of the Tabernacle based only on Exodus description
The final plan of the tabernacle as it results from its imprint on the ground
The differences concern the disposition of the supporting stanchions and the positions of some objects inside the Holy place.
The major difference, however, is in the dimensions. According to most scholars, Moses’ cubit measured about 45 cm. With this value the Tabernacle dimensions would have been really excessive for a portable tent, not fit to resist to the desert’s environment. The imprint on the ground shows a value of Exodus’ cubit of 29,2 cm, as the tent measures 14,60 mt (= 50 cubits) by 29,20 ( = 100 cubits).
Therefore the dimensions of the Tabernacle’s furniture (altar, tables, ark etc) have to
be revised accordingly.
Conclusions
The shape and other characteristics of the imprint are such as to let no room for doubts that it was left by the tent described in Exodus, that is by Moses’ Tabernacle.
Its value is inestimable not only for historical, archaeological and religious reasons, but also because it demonstrates two things:
1.- that the account of Exodus is based on real facts
2.- that Moses’ holy mountain was in the area of Har Karkom.
A sad note
With my brother Claudio we have taken dozens of pictures of the imprint’s site, to document its conditions. But the bad experience of other archaeological sites in Har Kakrom (like the Paleolithic sanctuary, for example) were visitors change the settlement at their taste and destroy evidence, convinced us not to publish anything about the imprint until now, to avoid the same destiny to such extraordinary evidence.
Unfortunately we have seen that sometimes caravans of camels taking tourist from the plateau of Har Karkom to Beer Karkom, often stop on the clear spot of the tabernacle imprint, moving stones and building fireplaces, thus destroying unique archaeological evidence.
If appropriate protecting measures are not taken, in a few years this extraordinary unique evidence of Moses’ greatest realization will be completely cancelled. How sad!