Avshalom Cave (), known in academic literature as Soreq Cave (; ) and popularly as Stalactites Cave (), is a 5,000 m² cave on the western side of Mt. Ye'ela, in the

Judean hills The Judaean Mountains, or Judaean Hills (, or ,) are a mountain range in the West Bank and Israel where Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Hebron and several other biblical sites are located. The mountains reach a height of . The Judean Mountains can be div ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, unique for its dense concentration of

stalactite A stalactite (, ; , ) 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 and that can be deposited as a colloid, or is in suspension (chemistry ...

s and other cave formations. It is a popular

show cave A show cave—also called tourist cave, public cave, and, in the United States, commercial cave—is a cave which has been made accessible to the public for guided visits. Definition A show cave is a cave that has been made accessible to ...

, as well as a highly valued witness of the climate evolution over the last 185,000 years.

Name

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

War of Attrition The War of Attrition (; ) involved fighting between Israel and Egypt, Jordan, the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and their allies from 1967 to 1970. Following the 1967 Six-Day War, no serious diplomatic efforts were made to resolve t ...

Location

Avshalom Cave is situated near Hartuv, 3 km east of Bet Shemesh, 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.

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 (, ; ; ) 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 composed of calcium carbonate, but may consist ...

s to form stone pillars.

Paleoclimate research: significance

The cave has been the focus of

paleoclimate Paleoclimatology ( British spelling, palaeoclimatology) is the scientific study of climates predating the invention of meteorological instruments, when no direct measurement data were available. As instrumental records only span a tiny part of ...

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 is the

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

of climate history in the

Eastern Mediterranean The Eastern Mediterranean is a loosely delimited region comprising the easternmost portion of the Mediterranean Sea, and well as the adjoining land—often defined as the countries around the Levantine Sea. It includes the southern half of Turkey ...

.Eminent Jewish Geologist Voyages to Tiberias to Connect With His Roots

Haaretz ''Haaretz'' (; originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , , ) is an List of newspapers in Israel, Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel. The paper is published in Hebrew lan ...

, 23 March 2012.

Tourism

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

dunam A dunam ( Ottoman Turkish, Arabic: ; ; ; ), also known as a donum or dunum and as the old, Turkish, or Ottoman stremma, was the Ottoman unit of area analogous in role (but not equal) to the Greek stremma or English acre, representing the amo ...

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, funga, or features of geologic ...

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

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,

Speleothem A speleothem (; ) is a geological formation made 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, depen ...

s File:Stalactites cave (17).JPG, Stalactite meeting stalagmite to form a pillar File:Cave formation.JPG, Speleothems 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 image hosting service, image and Online video platform, 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 previously a co ...

{{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)