From Kibbutz to the global stage
Kahlat and the Hidden Archive of Section 60: Jordan River and Copper Scroll
Geographic Background and Identification Traditions: Ein Samiya versus Ein Kahlat
Over the years, research on the Copper Scroll has examined several sites in an attempt to identify the mysterious location called “Kahlat.”
Ein Samiya (in the Wadi Yitav system): The largest spring in eastern Samaria, situated near an extensive necropolis and settlement remains. Scholars including Prof. Hanan Eshel and Prof. Ze’ev Safrai proposed identifying the Ein Samiya Valley with “Tel Kahlat,” interpreting it as a possible hiding place and refuge associated with the periods of revolt.
Ein Kahlat / Ein Ahuvia (Gush Etzion): A layer spring in Nahal Tzofit whose water has a distinctive bluish hue associated with the local clay layer, creating an apparent associative connection with the name Kahlat.
The “Ein Kahal” tradition and Massekhet Kelim: Later texts such as Massekhet Kelim mention “Ein Kahal” as a place where Temple vessels were concealed. While popular tradition eventually transferred this identification to the Galilee, near Amiad, scroll researchers generally preferred to search for the site in Judea or Benjamin. This contributed to the proposal identifying it with Ein Samiya.
The Limitations of Phonetic Identification and Multi-Parametric Triangulation
Giving excessive weight to phonetic similarity when proposing an archaeological identification can introduce significant logistical and topographical difficulties.
Approximately 30 percent of the Copper Scroll’s sections — Sections 1–19 — are densely concentrated, according to the geographical reconstruction proposed here, within a defined drainage region: the Jericho Valley, Jericho itself, the Valley of Achor, the northern Dead Sea and the Jordan River outlet.
Moving “Kahlat” — which appears repeatedly as an administrative or geographical anchor in Sections 4, 11, 15 and 19, and again in the concluding Section 60 — to Ein Samiya requires a shift of approximately 40 kilometers northward. Such a movement is not self-evident within the spatial sequence proposed here and disrupts its geographical and hydraulic continuity.
A stronger identification should therefore be tested against several parameters simultaneously:
Geographical continuity: Does the identification preserve the navigational and spatial sequence of the text?
Engineering typology: Does the physical installation correspond to the type described — pool, cistern, channel, threshold or other structure?
Hydraulic data: Do the type of water, dimensions and volumetric indicators correspond?
Operational context: Is there a direct relationship with nearby storage, collection or distribution installations?
Decoding XAG in Section 4: Harbor and Embankment Terminology on the Northern Dead Sea
Section 4 contains the foreign-letter combination XAG in the context of Kahlat. Three possible interpretations are proposed here. The third currently appears particularly interesting from an engineering perspective, although it requires further philological examination.
Alternative 1 — Chôma–Gaza/Alexandria: A constructed embankment (Chôma) combined with a possible marker relating to an international trade route.
Alternative 2 — Chôma–Aigialos: A stone-and-earth embankment (Chôma) situated at the interface between land and water, represented by Aigialos, the shore or coastal zone.
Alternative 3 — Chôma–Agger: A possible combination of Greek Chôma — an embankment or constructed pier — and Latin Agger, an earth-and-stone ramp or raised structure.
Under this third interpretation, the bilingual combination could describe a substantial solid rubble-mound pier or embankment, designed to permit the safe loading and unloading of heavy cargo — including agricultural products such as wine, oil and balsam — onto boats operating on the northern Dead Sea.
Decoding KEN in Section 1: A Channel or a Measuring Standard?
Section 1 contains the combination KEN alongside an explicit measurement of “40 cubits.” From an engineering perspective, two possible interpretations can be considered. At this stage, they should be treated as alternatives rather than cumulative interpretations.
The infrastructural interpretation: Canalis — a channel or aqueduct associated with the collection of runoff in the Valley of Achor.
The measurement interpretation: Canna — a measuring rod corresponding to six cubits and associated with surveyors (Agrimensores). Forty cubits equal approximately 6⅔ such rods. Under this hypothesis, KEN could function as a surveying or calibration notation indicating that the measurement was recorded using a standardized measuring rod.
Hydraulic Evidence at the End of the Scroll: From the Mount Gerizim Basin to Adam Bridge — Sections 57–60
The final sections of the Copper Scroll may provide additional quantitative and geographical support for interpreting it as an infrastructure record.
Sections 57–59 can be read as mapping the extensive eastern Samarian drainage system — including Mount Gerizim and Nahal Tirza/Wadi al-Far’a — while the concluding Section 60 brings the sequence eastward toward the Jordan Valley, in the region of today’s Adam Bridge, north of the proposed location of Kahlat.
Section 57 — The Upper Catchment
Section 57 describes what may be the beginning of a runoff-capture system in the upper Gerizim basin:
“Be-har Gerizin tahat ma’ala shel shit elyona, shada ahat ve-khol keleha ve-kesef, kikarim 60.”
Using the conversion proposed in my previous articles — 60 multiplied by 10, producing an estimated hydraulic value of approximately 600 cubic meters — the proposed analysis suggests a flow on the order of 600 cubic meters per hour, equivalent to approximately 5 million cubic meters per year if sustained at that rate.
Section 58 — Springs and Surface Water
Section 58 states:
“Be-fi ha-mabua shel Beit Shem, klei kesef u-khlei zahav shel dema, ve-kesef, ha-kol kikarim shesh me’ot.”
Under the hydraulic interpretation proposed here, the passage may describe a concentration of springs and surface water along the drainage system.
Using the same conversion framework discussed in the previous articles, the additional flow is estimated at another 600 cubic meters per hour, representing a potential additional volume of more than 5 million cubic meters per year if sustained.
Section 59 — The “Great Conduit”
Section 59 describes what appears to be the central drainage system:
“Be-biva ha-gedola shel ha-bazekh, klei Beit ha-kukh, ha-kol mishkal kikarim 71, manin esrin.”
The proposed metrological reading of “71 manin esrin” — 71 × 10 × 10 = 7,100 — may represent a peak-flow value on the order of 7,100 cubic meters per hour.
The significance of this figure lies not merely in the number itself but in its comparison with the modern hydrology of the region.
Nahal Tirza (Wadi al-Far’a), together with neighboring drainage systems, carries water from eastern Samaria toward the Jordan Valley. The Nahal Tirza basin itself covers approximately 300 square kilometers. Modern figures indicate an average annual flow volume of approximately 13.5 million cubic meters, with extreme year-to-year variability — from approximately 4 million cubic meters in dry years to as much as 42 million cubic meters in particularly wet years in Nahal Tirza alone.
This is not intended to suggest a direct equivalence between ancient and modern units of measurement. Rather, the comparison concerns hydrological orders of magnitude. If the proposed reading of Section 59 is correct, it is significant that one of the Scroll’s largest numerical values appears specifically in connection with the “Great Conduit,” in the geographical region where one of eastern Samaria’s major drainage basins actually converges.
Section 60 — The Administrative Signature and the Hidden Archive
Section 60 concludes the sequence with an unusual statement:
“Be-shit she-ba-nahal mi-tzafon Kahlat, pit’ha tzafon, u-kvarim al piha; mishneh ha-ktav ha-zeh u-ferusho u-mish’hoteyhem u-ferut kol ehad ve-ehad.”
Under the geographical reconstruction proposed here, the water network descending from Nahal Tirza and the Gerizim basin converges eastward toward the low Jordan Valley, in the region of present-day Adam Bridge, north of the proposed location of Kahlat.
The relationship between the hydrological characteristics of the terrain, modern measurements and the proposed linear structure of Sections 1–60 creates an engineering and geographical model that deserves further research, data collection and analysis.
But Section 60 may provide something more important: a clue to the nature of the entire document.
Unlike the preceding sections, it does not merely describe a place, measurement or contents. It explicitly refers to “mishneh ha-ktav ha-zeh” — a copy or duplicate of this writing — together with its “perusho” (explanation), its “mish’hoteyhem” (measurements), and the “perut kol ehad ve-ehad” (details of each and every item).
If the interpretation proposed here is correct, the Copper Scroll may never have been intended to contain the complete technical information. Instead, it may have functioned as a condensed field record pointing toward a more detailed archive containing the specifications, measurements and explanations of the individual installations.
This possibility also changes the significance of Kahlat.
Rather than an isolated treasure site, Kahlat may have served as a recurring geographical and operational anchor, appearing near the beginning of the Scroll and returning at its conclusion — at the interface between the water systems of the Jordan Valley, eastern Samaria and the northern Dead Sea.
The model proposed here still requires further philological, archaeological and hydrological testing. Yet the accumulation of correspondences — geographical sequence, types of water installations, measurements, foreign-letter codes and the administrative language of Section 60 — allows us to pose a more focused research question:
Does the Copper Scroll record treasures hidden across the landscape — or is the Scroll itself a surviving component of a documentation system designed to preserve knowledge of vital infrastructure throughout Judea, the Jordan Valley and Samaria?
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