![Einot-tzukim-reserve-badeteich](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/Einot-tzukim-reserve-badeteich.JPG)
Ein Feshkha ( ar, عين فشخة, also Ain Al-Fashka) or Einot Tzukim ( he, עינות צוקים, lit=cliff springs) is a 2,500 ha nature reserve and archaeological site on the north-western shore of the
Dead Sea
The Dead Sea ( he, יַם הַמֶּלַח, ''Yam hamMelaḥ''; ar, اَلْبَحْرُ الْمَيْتُ, ''Āl-Baḥrū l-Maytū''), also known by other names, is a salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east and Israel and the West Bank ...
, about 3 km south of
Qumran
Qumran ( he, קומראן; ar, خربة قمران ') is an archaeological site in the West Bank managed by Israel's Qumran National Park. It is located on a dry marl plateau about from the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea, near the Israeli ...
in the
West Bank
The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...
. It is located just north of the headland ''Râs Feshkhah'', the "headland of Feshkhah". Within the reserve is a group of springs of brackish water. The nature reserve consists of an open section with pools of mineral water for bathing surrounded by high foliage and a section that is closed to visitors to protect the native flora and fauna.
Etymology
'Ain el-Feshkhah means "the spring of el-Feshkhah", Feshkhah being either a personal name, or a word with no meaning.
Exploration history
![Ejnotxukim063](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/Ejnotxukim063.JPG)
In 1838,
Edward Robinson noted that the temperature of the spring was 80°. He also saw the "foundations of a small square tower and of other small buildings" near the fountain. He further noted a couple of ravens and a small hawk, and his guides killed a large (3 feet, 8 inches) lizard of the
Lacerta Nilotica species.
In 1847
William F. Lynch
Captain William Francis Lynch (1 April 1801 – 17 October 1865) was a naval officer who served first in the United States Navy and later in the Confederate States Navy.
Personal life
William F. Lynch was born in Virginia. On 2 June 1828, on ...
visited the place, and described the stream as: "The fountain is a shallow and clear stream of water, at the temperature of 84°, which flows from a
cane−brake, near the base of the mountain. It is soft yet brackish, and there is no deposit of silicious or cretaceous matter, but it has a strong smell of sulphur." He further "made an excursion along the base of the mountain, towards ''Ras es Feshkhah'' (cape of the stride), and gathered some specimens of conglomerate and some fresh−water shells in the bed of the stream. We were struck with the almost absence of round stones and pebbles upon the beach −the shore is covered with small angular fragments of flint. Started two
partridge
A partridge is a medium-sized Galliformes, galliform bird in any of several genera, with a wide Indigenous (ecology), native distribution throughout parts of Europe, Asia and Africa. Several species have been introduced to the Americas. They a ...
s of a beautiful stone−colour, so much like the rocks, that they could only be distinguished when in motion. Heard the notes of a solitary bird in the cane−brake, which we could not identify. The statement that nothing can live upon the shores of the sea, is, therefore, disproved. The home and the usual haunt of the partridge may be among the cliffs above, but the smaller bird we heard must have its nest in the thicket."
In 1851
de Saulcy noted extensive ruins north of the spring.
Around 1860
Henry Baker Tristram
Henry Baker Tristram FRS (11 May 1822 – 8 March 1906) was an English clergyman, Bible scholar, traveller and ornithologist. As a parson-naturalist he was an early supporter of Darwinism, attempting to reconcile evolution and creation.
Biogra ...
visited, and noted: "Our prospects at ''Ain Feshkhah'' seemed as bright as at
Jericho
Jericho ( ; ar, أريحا ; he, יְרִיחוֹ ) is a Palestinian city in the West Bank. It is located in the Jordan Valley, with the Jordan River to the east and Jerusalem to the west. It is the administrative seat of the Jericho Gove ...
, and we were already prepared to pronounce the Dead Sea shore to be the shore of charmed life. Water, vegetation, birds and beasts, geology, and hot baths −everything was in abundance. The poor fountain has had, methinks, rather scurvy treatment at the hands of its biographers.
..Perhaps our tastes were vitiated, or perhaps after the recent rains the mineral element was unusually diluted; but though the spring itself had a temperature of 82°
Fahr. we found it tolerable. It made good tea and coffee, though with a slight flavour of soda, and we had no hesitation in determining to spend two days by its reeds."
![PEF Rock](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/PEF_Rock.jpg)
In 1883, the
Palestine Exploration Fund
The Palestine Exploration Fund is a British society based in London. It was founded in 1865, shortly after the completion of the Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem, and is the oldest known organization in the world created specifically for the study ...
's (PEF)
''Survey of Western Palestine'' (SWP) noted: "In the neighbourhood of the Dead Sea there are also two springs of importance. The largest of these is 'Ain Feshkhah, near which is the little spring called 'Ain et Tannur. The water comes out from beneath the cliffs into a pool surrounded with canes, and runs over a shingly bed in several streams into the Dead Sea. The supply is copious and perennial, but has a slightly brackish taste and sulphurous smell. The colour in the pool is a deep green blue."
[Conder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III, p]
171
/ref>
PEF rock: Dead Sea level reference line
In October 1900, R. A. Stewart Macalister found a suitable rock towards the southern end of 'Ain Feshkah's reeds area, next to the Dead Sea shore and standing some 20 ft above the water.[ A second boulder underneath the first offered a ledge to stand on.][ He had brought with him a stonemason from ]Jericho
Jericho ( ; ar, أريحا ; he, יְרִיחוֹ ) is a Palestinian city in the West Bank. It is located in the Jordan Valley, with the Jordan River to the east and Jerusalem to the west. It is the administrative seat of the Jericho Gove ...
, who carved an 8-9 inches long line into the rock face which was to be used for reference, and the initials "PEF" beneath it.[ It became known as the PEF rock. Macalister undertook a first measurement and noted that the line stood at exactly 14 ft above the water.][R. A. Stewart Macalister]
Observation of Dead Sea Levels
Palestine Exploration Fund, ''Quarterly Statement for 1901'', pp.4-5, London 1901. Retrieved 14 April 2020. Macalister's reference line was then used until 1913 by the PEF researcher, E. W. G. Masterman (1867-1943), who came down from Jerusalem for rigorous biannual measurements.[ Long-forgotten, it was rediscovered after the Six Day war by Israeli geographer and cultural researcher, ]Zev Vilnay
Zev Vilnay ( he, זאב וילנאי, 12 June 1900 – 21 January 1988) was an Israeli geographer, author and lecturer.
Biography
Zev Vilnay was born as Volf Vilensky in Kishinev, Russian Empire (now in Moldova). He immigrated to Palestine with ...
.
Nature reserve
According to ARIJ, in 1969 Israel confiscated 97 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 ...
s of land from the Palestinian
Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...
village of al-Ubeidiya
Al-Ubeidiya ( ar, العبيدية) is a Palestinian town located east of Bethlehem. The town is a part of the Bethlehem Governorate in the central West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), al-Ubeidiya had a p ...
in order to establish the nature reserve of 'Ayn Fashkhah.
The saline wetlands
A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...
of Ein Feshkha are the only known place in the world where populations of Blue and Dead Sea killifish
A killifish is any of various oviparous (egg-laying) cyprinodontiform fish (including families Aplocheilidae, Cyprinodontidae, Fundulidae, Profundulidae and Valenciidae). All together, there are 1,270 species of killifish, the biggest family ...
(Nevit Hula and Nevit Yam Hamelakh) live side by side. The Israel Nature and Parks Authority
The Israel Nature and Parks Authority ( he, רשות הטבע והגנים ''Rashut Hateva Vehaganim''; ar, سلطة الطبيعة والحدائق) is an Israeli government organization that manages nature reserves and national parks in Israel, ...
and the Israeli Ministry of Agriculture are constructing pools in the area to preserve these native fish. Two of the pools are complete and are now populated by tens of thousands of fish. Measures are also being taken to preserve the tilapia
Tilapia ( ) is the common name for nearly a hundred species of cichlid fish from the coelotilapine, coptodonine, heterotilapine, oreochromine, pelmatolapiine, and tilapiine tribes (formerly all were "Tilapiini"), with the economically most ...
population.[INPA to celebrate Israel's wetlands this weekend, in honor of int'l day]
''The Jerusalem Post
''The Jerusalem Post'' is a broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, founded in 1932 during the British Mandate of Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''The Palestine Post''. In 1950, it changed its name to ''The Jerusalem Post''. In 2004, the paper w ...
''
Enot Tsukim is divided into three sections: the northern "closed reserve," the central "visitors reserve," and the southern "hidden reserve." The closed reserve is only open to scientists by special invitation. This section covers approximately 2,700 dunams. The 500-dunam visitors reserve features wading pools filled with natural spring water. Due to ecological concerns, the hidden reserve is closed to the public apart from tours on Fridays.[
]
Important Bird Area
The nature reserve has been recognised as an Important Bird Area
An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations.
IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...
(IBA) by BirdLife International
BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...
because it supports populations of griffon vulture
The Eurasian griffon vulture (''Gyps fulvus'') is a large Old World vulture in the bird of prey family Accipitridae. It may also be known as the Griffon vulture, though it may be used for the genus as a whole. It is not to be confused with Rü ...
s, Dead Sea sparrows and cinereous bunting
The cinereous bunting (''Emberiza cineracea'') is a bird in the bunting family Emberizidae, a ''passerine'' family now separated by most modern authors from the finches, Fringillidae. This species was first described by Christian Ludwig Brehm.
...
s.
Archaeology
Excavations at Ein Feshkha were conducted by Roland de Vaux
Roland Guérin de Vaux (17 December 1903 – 10 September 1971) was a French Dominican priest who led the Catholic team that initially worked on the Dead Sea Scrolls. He was the director of the Ecole Biblique, a French Catholic Theological S ...
of the Ecole Biblique in 1956 and 1958. Hirschfeld excavated the site in 2001.
Iron Age findings
The earliest structure at the site, located south of the spring, was an Iron Age II fort, constructed at a similar time to the earliest structures at Qumran and down the Dead Sea coast.
Herodian complex
De Vaux showed that the Ein Feshkha complex was contemporary with the settlement at Qumran and theorized that they were inhabited by the same community and, while he dated traces to the period from 100 to 31 BCE, both Magness and Hirschfeld have concluded that the complex was Herodian, i.e. dates after 37 BCE.
The complex is composed of a main building (24m by 18m) with central courtyard, an industrial installation with two plastered basins to its northeast and what appear to be stables to its west. The entrance was through two doors, side-by-side, to the east. There is a staircase in the southeast corner of the building, showing that there was an upper story.
The spring at Ein Feshkha is now located 100 meters south of the main building found by de Vaux and at least 3 meters lower. In ancient times a spring, now dried up, just north of the main building supplied water. This ancient spring being several meters higher suggests that it was sweet, not brackish. A channel brought water from the spring through the wall to the north into a small rectangular tank on to each of the two basins. The purpose of this installation is unknown. It may have served as part of a tannery or for raising fish. More recent analyses suggest it may have been used in indigo manufacturing, date-wine preparation, date-honey production or opobalsam preparation.
Other discoveries
Other discoveries at Ein Feshkha include a sizable vase from the first century BCE or CE with an inscription written in Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
/Aramaic
The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated in ...
using the Jewish script and a stone weight dating to the fifth year of king Agrippa, most likely Agrippa I.
See also
* Qumran Caves
Qumran Caves are a series of caves, both natural and artificial, found around the archaeological site of Qumran in the Judaean Desert. It is in these caves that the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered.
Israel Nature and Parks Authority took over t ...
* National parks and nature reserves of Israel
References
Bibliography
* Barag, Dan, "Ein-Feshkha" in Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls Vol.1, Edd. Schiffman, L., VanderKam, James C. (Oxford: OUP, 2000) p. 237–238.
* Bélis, Mirielle, "The Workshops at ʿEin Fashkhah: A New Hypothesis," in: Humbert, J.-B., J. Zangenburg, and K. Galor (eds.),
The Site of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Archaeological Interpretations and Debates
' (Leiden: Brill, 2006), (pp
253
262
*
* de Vaux, R., "Fouilles de Feshka, Rapport preliminaire." ''Revue Biblique'' 66 (1959), 225–255.
* Hirschfeld, Y., Qumran in Context: Reassessing the Archaeological Evidence, (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2004). Ch. 4, pp. 183–209.
*
*
* Magness, J., ''Archaeology and the Dead Sea Scrolls'' (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002). Ch. 10, pp. 210–217.
* Netzer, E., ''Did Any Perfume Industry Exist at ʿEin Fashkhah?'' in: ''Israel Exploration Journal'', 55 (2005), 97–100.
*
*
*
* Taylor, J., "Ein Fashkha", pp. 255–256, Vol. 6, of ''Encyclopaedia Judaica
The ''Encyclopaedia Judaica'' is a 22-volume English-language encyclopedia of the Jewish people, Judaism, and Israel. It covers diverse areas of the Jewish world and civilization, including Jewish history of all eras, culture, holidays, langua ...
'', Edition 2 (Macmillan Reference, 2006)
*
External links
Israel Nature & Parks Authority page on Ein Feshkha
Ein Fashkhah
Thomson Gale, 2007
* Survey of Western Palestine, Map 18:
IAA
Wikimedia commons
{{coord, 31.7144, N, 35.4533, E, source:wikidata, display=title
Jews and Judaism in the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire
Archaeological sites in the West Bank
Dead Sea Scrolls
Former populated places in Southwest Asia
Nature reserves in Palestine
Nature reserves in Israeli-occupied territories
Qumran
Important Bird Areas of the State of Palestine