Where Have You Gone, Father Roland de Vaux?

In 1960 a bundle of letters, written by Shimon Bar-Kosibah (Bar-Kokhba), was discovered during an archaeological dig in Nahal Hever. This archaeological dig was led by Professor Yigael Yadin, former Israel Defense Forces’ chief of staff and an archaeologist at the Hebrew University. In order to comprehend the cultural meaning of this event I would like to mention another figure, Father Roland de Vaux, an archaeologist and Dominican priest who was the first to find scrolls sent by Bar-Kosibah, and who Yadin chose not to mention. I believe that this omission sheds profound light on Yigael Yadin’s role as mythmaker.