Avshalom Cave ( he, מערת אבשלום, Me'arat Avshalom), known in academic literature as Soreq Cave ( he, מערת שׂורק, Me'arat Soreq), ar, مغارة سوريك, Mghar Suriq) an popularly as Stalactites Cave ( he, מערת הנטיפים, Me'arat HaNetifim), is a 5,000 m² cave on the western side of Mt. Ye'ela, in the

Judean hills The Judaean Mountains, or Judaean Hills ( he, הרי יהודה, translit=Harei Yehuda) or the Hebron Mountains ( ar, تلال الخليل, translit=Tilal al-Khalīl, links=, lit=Hebron Mountains), is a mountain range in Palestine and Israel wh ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, unique for its dense concentration of

stalactite A stalactite (, ; from the Greek 'stalaktos' ('dripping') via ''stalassein'' ('to drip') is a mineral formation that hangs from the ceiling of caves, hot springs, or man-made structures such as bridges and mines. Any material that is soluble an ...

s and other

cave formations A speleothem (; ) is a geological formation by mineral deposits that accumulate over time in natural caves. Speleothems most commonly form in calcareous caves due to carbonate dissolution reactions. They can take a variety of forms, depending on ...

. The cave has been the focus of

paleoclimate Paleoclimatology (British spelling, palaeoclimatology) is the study of climates for which direct measurements were not taken. As instrumental records only span a tiny part of Earth's history, the reconstruction of ancient climate is important to ...

research, which allowed reconstruction of the region's semi-arid climate for the past 185,000 years. According to the American geologist James Aronson, the Soreq Cave Nature Reserve is the

Rosetta stone The Rosetta Stone is a stele composed of granodiorite inscribed with three versions of a Rosetta Stone decree, decree issued in Memphis, Egypt, in 196 BC during the Ptolemaic dynasty on behalf of King Ptolemy V Epiphanes. The top and middle te ...

of climate history in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Name

The cave is named after the Soreq Valley ( Nahal Soreq) and after Avshalom Shoham, an Israeli soldier killed in the

War of Attrition The War of Attrition ( ar, حرب الاستنزاف, Ḥarb al-Istinzāf; he, מלחמת ההתשה, Milhemet haHatashah) involved fighting between Israel and Egypt, Jordan, the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and their allies from ...

Location

Avshalom Cave is situated near

Hartuv Hartuv ( he, הרטוב) or Har-Tuv (lit. "Mount of Goodness") was an agricultural colony in the Judean Hills established in 1883 on land purchased from the Arab village of Artuf by English missionaries. It was destroyed in the 1929 Palestine ri ...

, 3 km east of

Bet Shemesh Beit Shemesh ( he, בֵּית שֶׁמֶשׁ ) is a city located approximately west of Jerusalem in Israel's Jerusalem District, with a population of in . History Tel Beit Shemesh The small archaeological tell northeast of the modern city wa ...

, Israel.

Discovery

The cave was discovered accidentally in May 1968, while quarrying with explosives. After its discovery, the location of the cave was kept a secret for several years for fear of damage to its natural treasures.

Tourism

The cave is now open to visitors, in the heart of the 67-

dunam A dunam ( Ottoman Turkish, Arabic: ; tr, dönüm; he, דונם), also known as a donum or dunum and as the old, Turkish, or Ottoman stremma, was the Ottoman unit of area equivalent to the Greek stremma or English acre, representing the amount ...

Avshalom

Nature Reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

, declared in 1975. In 2012, a new lighting system was installed to prevent the formation and growth of algae.

Description

The cave is 83 m long, 60 m wide, and 15 m high. The temperature and the humidity in the cave are constant year round. Some of the stalactites found in the cave are four meters long, and some have been dated as 300,000 years old. Some meet

stalagmite A stalagmite (, ; from the Greek , from , "dropping, trickling") is a type of rock formation that rises from the floor of a cave due to the accumulation of material deposited on the floor from ceiling drippings. Stalagmites are typically ...

s to form stone pillars.

Gallery

File:Avshalom (Soreq) Cave sign.JPG, Sign at entrance to the cave File:Avshalom's Cave IMG 0992.JPG, Cave entrance File:Soreq Cave 07.jpg, Stalactites File:Stalactites cave (17).JPG, Stalactite meeting stalagmite to form a pillar File:Cave formation.JPG, Rock formation File:A Stalagmite and Stalactite touch.JPG, A stalagmite and stalactite almost touch File:View of Cave from above.JPG, Cave pond almost covered over by

calcareous sinter Calcareous sinter is a freshwater calcium carbonate deposit, also known as calc-sinter. Deposits are characterised by low porosity and well-developed lamination, often forming crusts or sedimentary rock layers. Calcareous sinter should not be conf ...

File:Beautiful cave formations.JPG, Cave formation

References

External links

Stalactite Cave Nature Reserve
at Israel Nature and Parks Authority website * Photos o
Avshalom Stalactites Cave

Flickr Flickr ( ; ) is an American image hosting and video hosting service, as well as an online community, founded in Canada and headquartered in the United States. It was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and was a popular way for amateur and professional ...

{{Coord, 31, 45, 21, N, 35, 01, 24, E, region:IL_type:landmark, display=title Limestone caves Caves of Israel Show caves in Israel Nature reserves in Israel Landforms of Central District (Israel) Protected areas of Central District (Israel)