Page 21 - Holyland Magazine - 2009 Edition

Moving slowly through the
underground labyrinth on your hands and
knees – and in certain places, even on your
stomach – with only the narrow beam of
a flashlight strapped to your head lighting
the way, can be a claustrophobic
experience.
The sudden entrance into a large room
with full-size industrial oil presses next to
a large ritual bath with the seven-branched
candelabrum on its door lintel can teach
us about a wealthy Jewish community that
may have supplied the Temple in Jerusalem
with olive oil for its ritual practices. Such
caves can be found in sites such as Tel
Maresha, Amatziya or Hazan, some 25
miles southwest of Jerusalem on the slopes
of the Judean highlands.
Although thousands of tunnel entrances
leading to such complex systems have been
found in the surrounding area, most tunnels
are still unexcavated and thus remain
dangerous. For the past several years,
however, some of these caves have been
open to the public and allow visitors to
experience them firsthand. If you’re not
put off by getting a bit of dirt on your hands,
you and your family can assist in uncovering
the underground world by joining a Dig for
a Day led by Archaeological Seminars.
After taking part in the digging, brave
Dr. Gutfeld crawling out of a cave still waiting
to be excavated by adventursome tourists.
participants can Yoni Shapira
crawl into the
underground mazes
still not open to the
public and find in
these hideaway
tunnels traces of a
period long gone.
This makes for a
memorable Holy
Land adventure not
to be missed.
Who carved out the Archeologist Dr. Oren Gutfeld, right,
caves? When and examining newly found artifacts dug
for what purpose? up by American volunteers in Beit Loya
Some light was columbarium cave. The cave was used
to raise pigeons.
shed on this puzzle
after archaeologists dated most of the caves caves allowed the entire village population
to the 1st century CE when they were to go underground for extended periods
limestone quarries, which were later used of time. Large columbaria (pigeon-breeding
as cool storage rooms under the Jewish structures), oil and wine presses, cooking
villages aboveground. By the 2nd century, facilities and bakeries with water conduits
times were harsh for the Jewish population and troughs for livestock supplied the
in the area. In preparation for the Bar families as they escaped the wrath of the
Kochva revolt against the Romans (132- Romans legions above.
135 CE), entire villages dug deep into the Recently, new excavations started at the
soft limestone under the houses and nearby site of Beit Lehi (Hirbet Loya) have
expanded the storage areas and water added to the mysteries rather than solving
cisterns into a labyrinth of tunnels, secret the puzzle of these caves, in what may turn
passages, gathering halls and out to be among the most surprising and
manufacturing facilities. The connecting interesting archaeological sites in Israel.
Yoni Shapira Back in 2005 climbing down into a newly
discovered cave hidden by the roots of an
old fig tree was all in a day’s work for
archaeologist Dr. Oren Gutfeld of the
Hebrew University.
The findings inside the cave were not. How
often would you expect an inscription over
1,600-year-old graffiti in ancient Greek to
read "Jesus was here" (pronounced Iesos
ode)? Well, not often, although the name
Jesus (in Hebrew, Yeshua) was a common
Jewish name during the 1st century CE in
Judea. However, the additional presence
of the two Greek letters symbolizing Jesus
Christ – chi and rho (X and R) – was totally
unexpected and a unique finding anywhere
in the Holy Land. Is this really a personal
mark of Jesus so far outside the main area
of his ministry? As excavations continue,
the land may still deliver its secrets.