Wikipedia's first sentence called it “cave located in the dead sea area that contained one of the largest caches of ancient documents and personal co”. Today it says “refuge cave in nahal hever in the judaean desert where letters and fragments of papyri from the roman empire pe”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2025 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2025
Refuge cave in Nahal Hever in the Judean Desert 31°25′57″N 35°20′34″E  /  31.432607°N 35.342913°E  / 31.432607; 35.342913 Cave of Letters Roman army camp above the cave A scroll found in the cave, part of the Babatha archive Image of a fragment of one of the biblical manuscripts found in the Cave of Letters The Cave of Letters ( Hebrew : מערת האיגרות , romanized : Marat Ha-Igerot ) is a refuge cave in Nahal Hever in the Judean Desert where letters and fragments of papyri from the Roman Empire period were found. Some are related to the Bar Kokhba revolt (circa 131–136 CE), including letters of correspondence between Bar Kokhba and his subordinates. Another notable bundle of papyri, known as the Babatha cache, comprises legal documents of Babatha, a female landowner of the same period. Manuscripts sites in the Judaean desert
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1295949657.
The opening as it stood in 2010
31°25′57″N 35°20′34″E  /  31.4326072°N 35.3429125°E  / 31.4326072; 35.3429125 The Cave of Letters is a cave located in the Dead Sea area that contained one of the largest caches of ancient documents and personal correspondence ever discovered in the land of Israel . Discovered in 1960 by Israeli archaeologist Yigael Yadin , the cave contained letters from Bar Kochba , leader of the Third Jewish Revolt , as well as other documents from that period. Since its discovery, the letters found there have slowly been published, but not yet in their entirety.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 363508648.
The opening as it stood in 2015 3 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
31°25′57″N 35°20′34″E  /  31.432607°N 35.342913°E  / 31.432607; 35.342913 A scroll found in the cave, part of the Babatha archive The Cave of Letters is a cave in Nahal Hever , where letters and fragments of papyri from the Roman Empire period were found.Some are related to the Bar Kokhba revolt (circa 131-136), including letters of correspondence between Bar-Kokhba and his subordinates.Another notable bundle of papyri, known as the Babatha cache, comprises legal documents of Babatha, a woman land owner of the same period.Manuscripts sites in the Judaean desert
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 665371689.
The opening as it stood in 2020
A scroll found in the cave, part of the Babatha archive Image of a fragment of one of the biblical manuscripts found in the Cave of Letters The Cave of Letters is a cave in Nahal Hever in the Judean Desert where letters and fragments of papyri from the Roman Empire period were found. Some are related to the Bar Kokhba revolt (circa 131-136), including letters of correspondence between Bar-Kokhba and his subordinates. Another notable bundle of papyri, known as the Babatha cache, comprises legal documents of Babatha, a female landowner of the same period. Manuscripts sites in the Judaean desert
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 963151762.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
Roman army camp above the cave A scroll found in the cave, part of the Babatha archive Image of a fragment of one of the biblical manuscripts found in the Cave of Letters The Cave of Letters is a cave in Nahal Hever in the Judean Desert where letters and fragments of papyri from the Roman Empire period were found. Some are related to the Bar Kokhba revolt (circa 131-136), including letters of correspondence between Bar-Kokhba and his subordinates. Another notable bundle of papyri, known as the Babatha cache, comprises legal documents of Babatha, a female landowner of the same period. Manuscripts sites in the Judaean desert
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1156010177.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “cave located in the dead sea area that contained one of the largest caches of ancient documents and personal co”. Today it says “refuge cave in nahal hever in the judaean desert where letters and fragments of papyri from the roman empire pe”. Read the current article and compare.
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2010, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
cave located in the dead sea area that contained one of the largest caches of ancient documents and personal co
Now
refuge cave in nahal hever in the judaean desert where letters and fragments of papyri from the roman empire pe
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
