Ancient Hebrew Burial Cave Described in Giles County, Tennessee
This type of burial cave with a rolled stone at the entrance dates from 200 B.C. - 200 A.D. at the plantation of Mr. William Sheppard, in the County of Giles, seven and a half miles north of Pulaski, on the east side of the creek, is a cave with several rooms. The first is fifteen feet wide, twenty-seven feet long, and four feet deep; the upper part is of solid rock. Leading into this cave was a passage which had been so artfully covered that it escaped detection till lately. A flat stone, three feet wide and four feet long, rested upon the ground, and, inclining against the bank, closed part of the mouth. 'Into the part of the mouth left open, had been rolled another stone which closed the whole opening. When these stones were removed and the cave was first entered, the jawbone of a child, the arm-bone, the skull, and thighbones of a man were found. The whole bottom of the cave was paved with flat stones of a bluish color closely joined together, but of different shapes and sizes. They formed a smooth floor upon which the bones were laid. Exodus 24:10 This sea of glass was first seen by Moses, Aaron, Nadab and Abihu and the seventy elders of Israel on Mount Sinai, and there “they saw the God of Israel. Under his feet, there was, as it were, a pavement of sapphire, a clear blue as the very heavens.” I quoted this because I thought it set a precedent that Hebrew burial caves had floors.
