![PikiWiki Israel 4281 Waterfall in Ein Gedi](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/PikiWiki_Israel_4281_Waterfall_in_Ein_Gedi.jpg)
Ein Gedi ( he, עֵין גֶּדִי, ), also spelled En Gedi,
[ meaning "spring of the ]kid
Kid, Kids, KIDS, and K.I.D.S. may refer to:
Common meanings
* Colloquial term for a child or other young person
** Also for a parent's offspring regardless of age
* Engage in joking
* Young goats
* The goat meat of young goats
* Kidskin, lea ...
", is an oasis
In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment'ksar''with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system.”
The location of oases has been of critical imp ...
, an archeological site
An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology and ...
and a 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 ...
in 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 ...
, located west 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 ...
, near Masada
Masada ( he, מְצָדָה ', "fortress") is an ancient fortification in the Southern District of Israel situated on top of an isolated rock plateau, akin to a mesa. It is located on the eastern edge of the Judaean Desert, overlooking the Dea ...
and the 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 th ...
. Ein Gedi
Ein Gedi ( he, עֵין גֶּדִי, ), also spelled En Gedi, meaning "spring of the kid", is an oasis, an archeological site and a nature reserve in Israel, located west of the Dead Sea, near Masada and the Qumran Caves. Ein Gedi, a kib ...
, a kibbutz
A kibbutz ( he, קִבּוּץ / , lit. "gathering, clustering"; plural: kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1909, was Degania. Today, farming h ...
, was established nearby in 1954.
Ein Gedi is a popular tourist attraction, and was listed in 2016 as one of the most popular nature sites in Israel. The site attracts about one million visitors a year.
Etymology
The name ''Ein Gedi'' is composed of two words (In both Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
and 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 ...
): ''ein'' means spring or a fountain and ''gǝdi'' means goat-kid. Ein Gedi thus means "kid spring" or "fountain of the kid".
History and archaeology
Neolithic
At Mikveh Cave archaeologists found Pre-Pottery Neolithic A
Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) denotes the first stage of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic, in early Levantine and Anatolian Neolithic culture, dating to years ago, that is, 10,000–8,800 BCE. Archaeological remains are located in the Levantine and Up ...
(PPNA) flint tool
A stone tool is, in the most general sense, any tool made either partially or entirely out of stone. Although stone tool-dependent societies and cultures still exist today, most stone tools are associated with prehistoric (particularly Stone Ag ...
s and an arrowhead.
Chalcolithic
A Chalcolithic temple (ca. mid-fourth millennium BCE) belonging to the Ghassulian
Ghassulian refers to a culture and an archaeological stage dating to the Middle and Late Chalcolithic Period in the Southern Levant (c. 4400 – c. 3500 BC). Its type-site, Teleilat Ghassul (Teleilat el-Ghassul, Tulaylat al-Ghassul), is loca ...
culture was excavated on the slope between two springs, Ein Shulamit and Ein Gedi. More Chalcolithic finds were made at the Moringa and Mikveh Caves.
Bronze Age
No traces of Bronze Age settlement have been found at Ein Gedi.
Iron Age
The remains of the Iron Age settlement at Ein Gedi are located at a tell on the north bank of Wadi Arugot, known in Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
as Tell el-Jurn (grid position 187/097 PAL
Phase Alternating Line (PAL) is a colour encoding system for analogue television. It was one of three major analogue colour television standards, the others being NTSC and SECAM. In most countries it was broadcast at 625 lines, 50 fields (25 ...
) and 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 ...
as Tel Goren. The first permanent Iron Age settlement was Judean
Judea or Judaea ( or ; from he, יהודה, Standard ''Yəhūda'', Tiberian ''Yehūḏā''; el, Ἰουδαία, ; la, Iūdaea) is an ancient, historic, Biblical Hebrew, contemporaneous Latin, and the modern-day name of the mountainous sout ...
and was established around 630 BCE. The site was destroyed or abandoned after the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem in 587/86 BCE.
Hebrew Bible
In , Ein Gedi is enumerated among the wilderness cities of the Tribe of Judah
According to the Hebrew Bible, the tribe of Judah (, ''Shevet Yehudah'') was one of the twelve Tribes of Israel, named after Judah, the son of Jacob. Judah was the first tribe to take its place in the Land of Israel, occupying the southern ...
in the desert of Betharaba
Beit HaArava ( he, בֵּית הָעֲרָבָה, lit. ''House of the Arava'') is an Israeli settlement and kibbutz in the West Bank. Located near the Dead Sea and Jericho at the eponymous Beit HaArava Junction, the intersection of Highway 1 an ...
, and in , it is prophesied that one day, its coastal location will make it into a fishing village, after the water of the Dead Sea has been made sweet:
:''Fishing nets will be spread from En-gedi to En-eglaim''.
Fleeing from King Saul
Saul (; he, , ; , ; ) was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the first monarch of the United Kingdom of Israel. His reign, traditionally placed in the late 11th century BCE, supposedly marked the transition of Israel and Judah from a scattered tr ...
, David
David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...
hides in the strongholds at Ein Gedi ( and ) and Saul seeks him "even upon the most craggy rocks, which are accessible only to wild goats" (). Psalm 63
Psalm 63 is the 63rd psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee". In the slightly different numbering system of the Greek Septuagint version of the Bible and the L ...
, subtitled ''a Psalm of David when he was in the wilderness of Judah'', has been associated with David's sojourn in the desert of En-gedi.
In Ein Gedi is identified with ''Hazazon-tamar'', ''Hazezon Tamar'', ''Hatzatzon-Tamar'' or ''Hazezontamar'' (חַצְצוֹן תָּמָר ''ḥaṣṣōn tāmār'', "portion f land
F, or f, is the sixth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ef'' (pronounced ), and the plural is ''efs''.
Hist ...
of date palm
''Phoenix dactylifera'', commonly known as date or date palm, is a flowering plant species in the palm family, Arecaceae, cultivated for its edible sweet fruit called dates. The species is widely cultivated across northern Africa, the Middle Eas ...
s"), on account of the palm groves which surrounded it,[''A Smaller Dictionary of The Bible'', Sir William Smith, 1914, John Murrey, London. page 169.] where the Moabites and Ammon
Ammon (Ammonite: 𐤏𐤌𐤍 ''ʻAmān''; he, עַמּוֹן ''ʻAmmōn''; ar, عمّون, ʻAmmūn) was an ancient Semitic-speaking nation occupying the east of the Jordan River, between the torrent valleys of Arnon and Jabbok, in p ...
ites gathered in order to fight Josaphat Josaphat can refer to:
People
* Jehoshaphat, in the Bible, fourth king of the Kingdom of Judah
* Josaphat, a Christian saint of India, appearing in the legend of Barlaam and Josaphat
* Giosafat Barbaro (1413–94), Venetian explorer and diplomat ...
, king of Judah. In ''Hazazon-tamar'' is mentioned as being an Amorite
The Amorites (; sux, 𒈥𒌅, MAR.TU; Akkadian: 𒀀𒈬𒊒𒌝 or 𒋾𒀉𒉡𒌝/𒊎 ; he, אֱמוֹרִי, 'Ĕmōrī; grc, Ἀμορραῖοι) were an ancient Northwest Semitic-speaking people from the Levant who also occupied lar ...
city, smitten by Chedorlaomer
Chedorlaomer, also spelled Kedorlaomer (; Hebrew: כְּדָרְלָעֹמֶר, Tiberian: ''Kəḏorlā'ōmer''; Vat. Χοδολλογομορ), is a king of Elam mentioned in Genesis 14. Genesis portrays him as allied with three other kings, camp ...
in his war against the cities of the plain.
The Song of Songs () speaks of the "vineyards of Ein Gedi". The words of Ecclesiasticus
The Book of Sirach () or Ecclesiasticus (; abbreviated Ecclus.) is a Jewish work, originally in Hebrew, of ethical teachings, from approximately 200 to 175 BC, written by the Judahite scribe Ben Sira of Jerusalem, on the inspiration of his fa ...
24:18, "I was exalted like a palm tree in Cades" (’en aígialoîs), may perhaps be understood as the palm trees of Ein Gedi.
Persian period
The settlement at Tel Goren is a rare example of a town which reached its zenith during the Persian period, probably during the late 5th century BCE.
Hellenistic and Hasmonean periods
Ein Gedi receives a fortress and becomes a royal Hasmonean estate.
Early Roman period
According to Jewish-Roman historian Josephus
Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for ''The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly d ...
, Ein Gedi served as the capital of a toparchy
''Toparchēs'' ( el, τοπάρχης, "place-ruler"), anglicized as toparch, is a Greek term for a governor or ruler of a district and was later applied to the territory where the toparch exercised his authority. In Byzantine times the term came t ...
, and there were excellent palm trees and balsam
Balsam is the resinous exudate (or sap) which forms on certain kinds of trees and shrubs. Balsam (from Latin balsamum "gum of the balsam tree", ultimately from Semitic, Aramaic ''busma'', Arabic ''balsam'' and Hebrew ''basam'', "spice", "perfume ...
growing there. The date palm's fruit and the balsam
Balsam is the resinous exudate (or sap) which forms on certain kinds of trees and shrubs. Balsam (from Latin balsamum "gum of the balsam tree", ultimately from Semitic, Aramaic ''busma'', Arabic ''balsam'' and Hebrew ''basam'', "spice", "perfume ...
plant's fragrance were essential to the village's economy. The balsam plant also served as a source for expensive medications.
During the First Jewish-Roman War
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
, the Sicarii
The Sicarii (Modern Hebrew: סיקריים ''siqariyim'') were a splinter group of the Jewish Zealots who, in the decades preceding Jerusalem's destruction in 70 CE, strongly opposed the Roman occupation of Judea and attempted to expel them and th ...
, who fought the Romans until their defeat and mass suicide at Masada
Masada ( he, מְצָדָה ', "fortress") is an ancient fortification in the Southern District of Israel situated on top of an isolated rock plateau, akin to a mesa. It is located on the eastern edge of the Judaean Desert, overlooking the Dea ...
, plundered local villages including Ein Gedi. At Ein Gedi, they drove out the defenders, and killed over seven hundred women and children who could not run away. Pliny claims that Ein Gedi was destroyed during the war, although the Babatha
Babatha (also known as Babata) was a Jews, Jewish woman who lived in the town of Maḥoza (at the south-eastern tip of the Dead Sea in what is now Jordan) at the beginning of the second century CE. In 1960, archaeologist Yigael Yadin discovered ...
archive shows that Jews lived there once again during the reign of Hadrian
Hadrian (; la, Caesar Trâiānus Hadriānus ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. He was born in Italica (close to modern Santiponce in Spain), a Roman ''municipium'' founded by Italic settlers in Hispania B ...
and probably earlier. The Babatha archive mentions Ein Gedi as a crown property; the Cohors
A cohort (from the Latin ''cohors'', plural ''cohortes'', see wikt:cohors for full inflection table) was a standard tactical military unit of a Roman legion. Although the standard size changed with time and situation, it was generally composed ...
I Milliaria Thracum is attested there, indicating the presence of Roman soldiers there at the time. The Babatha archive also refers to Ein Gedi as "a village in the territory of Jericho in Judaea". This evidence led researchers to believe that Ein Gedi was no longer a toparchy in its own right following the First Jewish-Roman War and had instead become a village inside the toparchy of 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 ...
.
Late Roman and Byzantine periods
Ein Gedi survived the catastrophic results of the Bar Kokhba revolt
The Bar Kokhba revolt ( he, , links=yes, ''Mereḏ Bar Kōḵḇāʾ''), or the 'Jewish Expedition' as the Romans named it ( la, Expeditio Judaica), was a rebellion by the Jews of the Judea (Roman province), Roman province of Judea, led b ...
and continued to exist until the sixth or seventh centuries.[Hirschfeld, Y. (2004). Ein Gedi: A Large Jewish Village1. ''Qadmoniot'', ''37'', 62-87.] Eusebius
Eusebius of Caesarea (; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος ; 260/265 – 30 May 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilus (from the grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος τοῦ Παμφίλου), was a Greek historian of Christianity, exegete, and Christian ...
described Ein Gedi as "a large Jewish village" in his early fourth-century ''Onomasticon
Onomasticon may refer to:
*Onomasticon (Eusebius)
*Onomasticon of Amenope
*Onomasticon of Joan Coromines
*Onomasticon of Julius Pollux
*Onomasticon of Johann Glandorp
*''Onomasticon Anglo-Saxonicum
Onomasticon may refer to:
*Onomasticon (Eusebius ...
''. In the early third century CE, a synagogue was built in the center of the village. its remains include a Judeo-Aramaic
Judaeo-Aramaic languages represent a group of Hebrew-influenced Aramaic and Neo-Aramaic languages.
Early use
Aramaic, like Hebrew, is a Northwest Semitic language, and the two share many features. From the 7th century BCE, Aramaic became the ...
inscription mosaic now on display at Jerusalem's Schottenstein campus
The Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein National Campus for the Archaeology of Israel is the future building of the Israel Antiquities Authority. Construction began in 2012 in Jerusalem, the building will concentrate all centralized administrative offices ...
museum warning inhabitants against "revealing the town's secret" – possibly the methods for extraction and preparation of the much-prized balsam resin, though not stated outright in the inscription – to the outside world.
Ein Gedi was destroyed in a fire during the late Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
period. According to the archeologists who excavated the synagogue, the village was destroyed during the early 6th century by Byzantine emperor Justinian
Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565.
His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovat ...
as part of his persecution campaign against Jews in his empire. Others claim that the village was destroyed in a Bedouin
The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu (; , singular ) are nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia. The Bedouin originated in the Syrian Desert and A ...
raid that occurred before the Persian invasion Persian invasion may refer to:
* Persian invasion of Scythia, 513 BC
* Greco-Persian Wars
** First Persian invasion of Greece, 492–490 BC
** Second Persian invasion of Greece
The second Persian invasion of Greece (480–479 BC) occurred dur ...
, probably around the late 6th or early 7th century.
After Ein Gedi was destroyed, the cultivation of balsam around the Dead Sea ceased, and it is believed that its Jewish residents, who were now refugees, took the knowledge of cultivating the balsam with them, causing this knowledge to be lost forever.
Ottoman period
In 1838, Edward Robinson reported that the whole area were covered with gardens, mainly cucumbers, all belonging to the ''Rashaideh'' tribe.
In April 1848, Lieutenant William Francis 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 ...
led an American expedition down the Jordan River
The Jordan River or River Jordan ( ar, نَهْر الْأُرْدُنّ, ''Nahr al-ʾUrdunn'', he, נְהַר הַיַּרְדֵּן, ''Nəhar hayYardēn''; syc, ܢܗܪܐ ܕܝܘܪܕܢܢ ''Nahrāʾ Yurdnan''), also known as ''Nahr Al-Shariea ...
into 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 ...
, that stopped at Ein Gedi (Ain Jidy).
Israel
In 1998–99, the archaeological expedition of Yizhar Hirschfeld
Yizhar Hirschfeld (1950 – 16 November 2006) was an Israeli archaeologist studying Greco-Roman and Byzantine archaeology. He was an associate professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and director of excavations at a number of sites aroun ...
at Ein Gedi systematically excavated what has been called "the Essenes
The Essenes (; Hebrew: , ''Isiyim''; Greek: Ἐσσηνοί, Ἐσσαῖοι, or Ὀσσαῖοι, ''Essenoi, Essaioi, Ossaioi'') were a mystic Jewish sect during the Second Temple period that flourished from the 2nd century BCE to the 1st c ...
site", first discovered by Yohanan Aharoni
Yohanan Aharoni (Hebrew:יוחנן אהרוני)(7 June 1919 – 9 February 1976) was an Israeli archaeologist and historical geographer, chairman of the Department of Near East Studies and chairman of the Institute of Archaeology at Tel-Aviv Unive ...
in 1956.
Nature reserve and national park
Ein Gedi nature reserve was declared in 1971 and is one of the most important reserves in Israel. The park is situated on the eastern border of the Judean Desert
The Judaean Desert or Judean Desert ( he, מִדְבַּר יְהוּדָה, Midbar Yehuda}, both ''Desert of Judah'' or ''Judaean Desert''; ar, صحراء يهودا, Sahraa' Yahuda) is a desert in Palestine and Israel that lies east of Jerusal ...
, on the Dead Sea coast, and covers an area of 14000 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 ( or ).[
The elevation of the land ranges from the level 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 ...
at 423 meters (1,388 ft) below sea level to the plateau of the Judean Desert at 200 meters above sea level. Ein Gedi nature reserve includes two spring-fed streams with flowing water year-round: Nahal David and Nahal Arugot
Nahal ( he, נח"ל) (acronym of ''Noar Halutzi Lohem'', lit. Fighting Pioneer Youth) is a program that combines military service with mostly social welfare and informal education projects such as youth movement activities, as well as training ...
(German article at: :de:Nachal Arugot). Two other springs, the Shulamit and Ein Gedi springs, also flow in the reserve. Together, the springs generate approximately three million cubic meters of water per year. Much of the water is used for agriculture or is bottled for consumption.
The reserve is a sanctuary for many types of plant, bird and animal species. The vegetation includes plants and trees from the tropical, desert, Mediterranean, and steppian regions, such as Sodom apple
''Calotropis procera'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Apocynaceae that is native to North Africa, Pakistan,tropical Africa, Western Asia, South Asia, and Indochina. The green fruits contain a toxic milky sap that is extremely bi ...
, acacia
''Acacia'', commonly known as the wattles or acacias, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa and Australasia. The genus na ...
, jujube
Jujube (), sometimes jujuba, known by the scientific name ''Ziziphus jujuba'' and also called red date, Chinese date, and Chinese jujube, is a species in the genus ''Ziziphus'' in the buckthorn family Rhamnaceae.
Description
It is a smal ...
, and poplar. The many species of resident birds are supplemented by over 200 additional species during the migration periods in the spring and fall. Mammal species include the Nubian ibex and the rock hyrax
The rock hyrax (; ''Procavia capensis''), also called dassie, Cape hyrax, rock rabbit, and (in the King James Bible) coney, is a medium-sized terrestrial mammal native to Africa and the Middle East. Commonly referred to in South Africa as the das ...
.
The Ein Gedi national park features several archaeological sites including the Chalcolithic Temple of Ein Gedi
The Chalcolithic Temple of Ein Gedi is a Ghassulian public building dating from about 3500 BCE. It lies on a scarp above the oasis of Ein Gedi, on the western shore of the Dead Sea, within modern-day Israel. Archaeologist David Ussishkin has de ...
and a first-century CE village. The park was declared in 2002 and covers an area of 8 dunams ( or ).[
]
Sinkholes
Ein Gedi has been subject to a large number of sinkhole
A sinkhole is a depression or hole in the ground caused by some form of collapse of the surface layer. The term is sometimes used to refer to doline, enclosed depressions that are locally also known as ''vrtače'' and shakeholes, and to openi ...
s appearing in the area, which have even damaged the highway built in 2010 which was supposedly built to a "sinkhole-proof" design. The sinkholes are due to the decline in the water level of the Dead Sea, at an annual rate of more than a metre, which is attributed to the battle for scarce water resources in the very arid region. The sinkholes form as a result of the receding shoreline (with the surface of the Sea having shrunk by about 33 per cent since the 1960s), where a thick layer of underground salt is left behind. When fresh water arrives in the form of heavy rains, it dissolves the salt as it sinks into the ground, forming an underground cavity, which eventually collapses under the weight of the surface ground layer.
Tourism has been affected by the receding shoreline and the sinkholes, and the amount of water from the rains reaching the sea has diminished since flash flood
A flash flood is a rapid flooding of low-lying areas: washes, rivers, dry lakes and depressions. It may be caused by heavy rain associated with a severe thunderstorm, hurricane, or tropical storm, or by meltwater from ice or snow flowing o ...
s started pouring into the sinkholes. Huge cave systems called karst
Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathering-resistant ro ...
s convey water underground between the sinkholes. Scientists in the floodplain
A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...
area south of Ein Gedi have been using cameras, water testing
Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a ...
, videos using drones and satellite monitoring
An Earth observation satellite or Earth remote sensing satellite is a satellite used or designed for Earth observation (EO) from orbit, including spy satellites and similar ones intended for non-military uses such as environmental monitoring, me ...
to map the area for safety.[
]
Kibbutz
Kibbutz Ein Gedi
Ein Gedi ( he, עֵין גֶּדִי, ''lit.'' Kid Spring) is a kibbutz on the western shore of the Dead Sea in Israel. Located on the edge of the Judean desert at the site of historic Ein Gedi, it falls under the jurisdiction of Tamar Regional C ...
, founded in 1956, is a kibbutz
A kibbutz ( he, קִבּוּץ / , lit. "gathering, clustering"; plural: kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1909, was Degania. Today, farming h ...
located about a kilometer from the oasis. It offers various tourist attractions and takes advantage of the local weather patterns and the abundance of natural water to cultivate out-of-season produce. The kibbutz area contains an internationally acclaimed botanical garden
A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...
covering an area of 100 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 (10 ha, 24.7 acre
The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial
Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism.
Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to:
Places
United States
* Imperial, California
* Imperial, Missouri
* Imp ...
s). There one can find more than 900 species of plants from all over the world. The kibbutz is also home to the Ein Gedi Eco Park, which functions as both a zoo and an environmental education center, demonstrating sustainable technologies such as solar cooker
A solar cooker is a device which uses the energy of direct sunlight to heat, cook or pasteurize drink and other food materials. Many solar cookers currently in use are relatively inexpensive, low-tech devices, although some are as powerful or as ...
s, greywater
Greywater (or grey water, sullage, also spelled gray water in the United States) refers to domestic wastewater generated in households or office buildings from streams without fecal contamination, i.e., all streams except for the wastewater from ...
systems, mud buildings, and compost toilet
A composting toilet is a type of dry toilet that treats human waste by a biological process called composting. This process leads to the decomposition of organic matter and turns human waste into compost-like material. Composting is carried out b ...
s.
Shalom Marathon – Dead Sea Half Marathon
The ''Ein Gedi race'', also known as the ''Shalom Marathon – Dead Sea Half Marathon'' is a popular road running event over several distances that has been held by the Tamar Regional Council since 1983. The starting point for all races is the Ein Gedi Spa
Ein Gedi Spa was a wellness center along the Dead Sea, Israel, fed by the waters of the Dead Sea and is now permanently closed due to sinkholes that threaten the area. It provided health by the four elements of the area: water, air, sun, and mud. T ...
, southeast of Jerusalem and 4 kilometers south of Kibbutz Ein Gedi.
See also
* Archaeology of Israel
The archaeology of Israel is the study of the archaeology of the present-day Israel, stretching from prehistory through three millennia of documented history. The ancient Land of Israel was a geographical bridge between the political and cultu ...
* Tourism in Israel
Tourism in Israel is one of Israel's major sources of income, with a record 4.55 million tourist arrivals in 2019, and, in 2017, contributed NIS 20 billion to the Israeli economy making it an all-time record. Israel offers a plethora of historica ...
* Wildlife of Israel
The wildlife of Israel includes the flora and fauna of Israel, which is extremely diverse due to the country's location between the temperate and the tropical zones, bordering the Mediterranean Sea in the west and the desert in the east. Species ...
* Hiking in Israel
Hiking is important in Israel, with over 9,656 km (6,000 miles) of trails. In May 2015, Google Street View, in cooperation with the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI), announced plans to photograph the full length of the ...
* En-Gedi Scroll
The En-Gedi Scroll is an ancient Hebrew parchment found in 1970 at Ein Gedi, Israel. Radiocarbon testing dates the scroll to the third or fourth century CE (210–390 CE), although paleographical considerations suggest that the scrolls may date b ...
References
Bibliography
* (pp
384
386)
*
*
* (Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p.
116
*
* (pp
143
150)
External links
Virtual Tour of Ein Gedi
- View from the Ein Gedi Promenade
- Bird's-eye view in Flash
Flash, flashes, or FLASH may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Fictional aliases
* Flash (DC Comics character), several DC Comics superheroes with super speed:
** Flash (Barry Allen)
** Flash (Jay Garrick)
** Wally West, the first Kid ...
The Israel Nature and Parks Authority - Site page
Ein Gedi Travel Guide
Pictures of Ein Gedi synagogue
Ein Gedi mill, 1893
*Survey of Western Palestine, Map 22
IAA
Wikimedia commons
Photos of Ein Gedi synagogue
at the Manar al-Athar
Manar al-Athar is a photo archive based at the Faculty of Classics at the University of Oxford which aims to provide high-quality open-access images of archaeological sites and buildings. The archive's collection focuses on areas of the Roman Em ...
photo archive
{{authority control
Nature reserves in Israel
National parks of Israel
Oases of Israel
Springs of Israel
Sites of Special Scientific Interest notified in 1972
Botanical gardens in Israel
Protected areas of Southern District (Israel)
Tells (archaeology)
Canaanite cities
Ancient Jewish settlements of Judaea
Hebrew Bible places
Israeli mosaics
Dead Sea basin
Judaean Desert
Pre-Pottery Neolithic A
Ghassulian