June 12th 2015 – Shuqba cave, Israel

June 12th, 2015
Shuqba cave, Nili, Israel

We went out for walking… =)It was “organized” by Amitim LaTiulyim (“Friends for Tours”). It was said it is going to be hard and long… It was in a way =)

We woke up in 4:00 to get there in 5:00 to find out there will be a lot of talking, so when we finally got to walk it was almost noon and it was hot! =)

We went to two main locations:

The first and more important for me was Shuqba cave – I was reading a book about half a year ago. And in some point it talks about the Natufian culture. I go to the notes and it says that the culture is called after the cave in Natuf stream in Western Judanian mountains. Imagine yourself! a famous cave and I didn’t know about it! We see it each time we drive to Atzva parents, but I never knew it was so important =)

The second site was an old Hasmoneans castle that called Artaba. Unlike the Sartaba it is not sitting on very high hill, and doesn’t have such a nice view from it.

Enjoy the pics =)

Take Care
Gad

P.S.
We are optimistic, we hope this time it’s for real =)

We parked our cars in Nili settlement and were ready to go =)

The group is gathering around Hezi our guide

The first site, on top of the hill over Nili. Used as an ancient factory for olive oil. The cistern on the hill provided it the water that are needed for the process.

The view of Nili from the hill

The Quarry in Natuf stream.

Crossing the road to the cave (you can see it is used by a quarry…)

Shuqba cave from the road…

…and from inside. It is more impressive than I thought.

The Hasomnean castle of Artaba in the middle of the frame

The footprints of Jackal, Wolves, Dogs and Foxes .

Little Owl on a power line.

The first spring. The spring itself is running in a smell tunnel, and below it there is a cave that was used as a cemetery.

The Artava from below.

An ancient factory to produce lime on the slopes of the Artava.

The remains of the corner of the wall of the Artaba castle.

Works for agriculture improvement, that doesn’t take into account the ruins.

One of the remains of the castle that sets around on top of the hill.

The view from the Artaba castle to the East.

Like many other castles, the hill is full of cisterns. Those are big underground halls that are some time tens of meters long.

The entrance to a unbroken cistern.

Another nice cistern with a fig tree growing inside it. The thumb rule from this tour was that almost each place there is a fig tree, there will be a cistern, well or spring.

On the Southern slope of the Artaba.

A “Bodeda”, an ancient mortar used for graining during the Jewish Shmita time.

The Artaba from down to up.

Resting a bit after the hard ascending (200m height), and listening to the explanation of Hezi (our guide) explaining about Cistus.

We can see Dolev!

Looking West from the hill near the village of Jalama.

Looking East from the hill, over the village of Jalama.

The Altar on top of the hill

Going down to the creek

The spring and the goats around it

The ruins of the old well pump building near the village of Shibtin, and some horses

The Village of Shibtin and the caves that were used by Israelites to bury their dead in the time of the second temple