JNF Says “Happy 60th Israel”

Rock-hewn caves at the park Inside the park are several ruins from the Second Temple Period(515 BC–AD 70) and even afterwards from the Second Jewish Revolt against the Romans in AD 132–135, most notably the Madras, Horvat Burgin, and Horvat Etri sites. Pottery and mikvaot (Jewish ritual baths) found attest to a Jewish population inhabiting the sites. At Horvat Etri, a synagogue from the time of Bar Kokhba was found that was similar in size and construction to that of the zealots at Masada in the First Jewish Revolt (AD 66–73).

Besides the above-ground ruins, the sites in the park are marked with dozens of rock-hewn caves and vast underground complexes. According to the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), “Scores of ‘cellars’ were preserved there, which are hewn in the chalk bedrock and were used for a variety of purposes such as storehouses, columbaria [pigeon coves], olive presses, refuge complexes, etc.”

Like many other burial caves, columbaria, and underground cellars, the ones in the Adulam Park suffered heavily from looters and illicit digging. “The burial caves constitute a focal point especially for robbers,” the IAA said, “since they usually contain valuable and intact artifacts that are hundreds and thousands of years old.”

By Will King, Correspondent BFP Israel Mosaic Radio