The Laughlins

Mark and I took a few day-trips last week to Ammunition Hill, the Ticho House, and Bet Guvrin National Park. The main sights at Bet Guvrin include: the Sidonian Burial Caves, the Bell Caves, and the Columbarium Cave. There are hundreds of other caves there - many that are blocked off or have not been excavated yet. Going underground was definitely a nice change in temperature, and we decided that in the past, people must have spent much of their summers in their cisterns! The Bell Caves were impressive because of their size alone and the fact that people actually had to hand pick or chisel them out. These caves consist of a network of 800+ connected bell-shaped pits, the maximum depth of which is 82 feet! Most of the caves are about 40-50 feet deep, and most of them were used as quarries to supply building materials (limestone blocks) to various cities during the 7th-10th centuries C.E. The Columbarium Cave is a vast "Pigeon Coop Cave" in the shape of a double cross. It is the largest of the 85 caves of its type in the region. It has 2000+ niches in it for roosting pigeons. The pigeons were used for food and possibly cultic purposes, and their dung was used as fertilizer. The Sidonian Burial Caves were used by the Mareshans during the 3rd-2nd centuries B.C.E. (to bury their dead). Original inscriptions and painting have been found in these caves, including a painting of musicians. (There is a picture below of the reproduction.) We spent a lot of time wandering around various houses, lots of cisterns (for holding water), and even oil presses located below the ground. On the far end of the park is a more "recent" Roman amphitheater, fortress, and church (12th century C.E.).
We did a local day-trip to Ammunition Hill and the Ticho House...I will write more about them in a later entry because I need to study, but Ammunition Hill was the location of a pivotal battle during the Six Day War between Jordan and Israel, and the Ticho House is a "house museum" that belonged to Dr. Avraham and Anna Ticho - he was a pro bono eye doctor in Israel, and Anna was a professional painter/artist...more to come!