Bet Guvrin National Park
Bet Guvrin National Park
Upon entering the park you might wonder why we brought you here -
aside from a beautiful view there doesn’t seem to be anything here.
But, that is precisely the beauty of this site - underground is where you
will find everything of interest. Archaeologists have found caves and
water cisterns that date as far back as the 3rd Century BCE! So far
they have found over 20 oil presses, a number of water cisterns that
served private homes, burial caves, columbariums (that’s where you
raise pigeons) and hundreds of storage caves.
This area encompasses the ancient cities of Maresha and Bet Guvrin
and was obviously once a major metropolis. The cities developed
alongside the rivers and the valleys were suitable for cultivation. The
cities of Bet Guvrin and Maresha both served travelers going between
Jerusalem and Hebron and the coastal plain. Maresha is mentioned in
the Bible in the time of Judah and subsequently fell into the hands of
each new ruler. Excavations have produced remains from the Persian,
Hellenist, Roman, Crusader and Arab empires.
Bet Guvrin seems to be a little more “modern” and dates back to the
Second Temple when it flourished as a Jewish center until the Bar
Kochba revolt. In the 3rd and 4th centuries the city was reestablished
and Jewish life flourished. The remains of A Jewish cemetery and a
synagogue from the Roman and Byzantine empire have been found.
In addition remains of churches have been found from the Byzantine
period.
Today not far from these remains stands Kibbutz Bet Guvrin
established in 1949 immediately after the creation of the State.
The Dig
Throughout your travels around Israel you may wonder how we know
so much about ancient history. The truth is we get most of our
information from archaeologists and books. Archaeologists study the
history of a place and then search the area for remains of prior eras.
A “dig” can last for years in one place until the archaeologists feel that
they have uncovered enough information - coins, remains of buildings,
documents, pottery... You’d be surprised at how much a piece of
pottery can tell you - what type of people lived here, Jews, Arabs,
Bedouins; What century they lived there; Was the community poor or
wealthy; and more....
On a "dig for a day", Israel experience participants participate in an
ongoing dig and try their hand at finding some hidden relics.