Biblical Archaeology Review

Simcha Lev-Yadun, D.S. Lucas and Mina Weinstein-Evron, “Modeling the Demands for Wood by the Inhabitants of Masada and for the Roman Siege,” Journal of Arid Environments 74 (2010), pp. 777–785.

Dan Yakir, Arie Issar et al., “¹³C and ¹⁸O of Wood from the Roman Siege Rampart in Masada, Israel (AD 70–73): Evidence for a Less Arid Climate for the Region,” Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 58 (1994), pp. 3535–3539. See also Arie S. Issar and Dan Yakir, “Isotopes from Wood Buried in the Roman Siege Ramp of Masada: The Roman Period’s Colder Climate,” The Biblical Archaeologist 60 (1997), pp. 101–106.

For the most accessible version of this argument, see Benjamin Arubas and Haim Goldfus, “Masada. The Roman Siege Works,” in Ephraim Stern, ed., The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land, vol. 5 (Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 2008), pp. 1937–1940.

Josephus seriously overstates the dimensions of Silva’s agger. See Josephus, Jewish War VII.307.

Josephus, Jewish War VII.305.

Ian A. Richmond, “The Roman Siege-Works of Masada, Israel,” Journal of Roman Studies 52 (1962), p. 154.

The steep escarpment edge of the rift valley would have provided a natural delimitation between the two operational sectors, although a carefully engineered zigzag track exiting from Camp D served as a link between the two zones.