 It appears to have been abandoned and its cultic furniture removed, carried away by the priests.Other Ghassulian sites also display signs of abandonment, and the temple may represent the last phase of the Ghassulian settlements.David Ussishkin has suggested that the Nahal Mishmar hoard, discovered south of Ein Gedi in 1961 by Pessah Bar-Adon, was in fact the temple's cult objects.