Most of the ground here is chalky and this soft but relatively erosion-resistant stone is ideal for caves. Very early, people began to dig caves in the Beit Govrin area, which they used as quarries and burial grounds, storerooms and workshops, hiding places and spaces for raising doves.
The soft chalk is generally covered by a layer of harder nari, which can be up to two meters thick. In general, the caves have a narrow opening in the nari and get wider and wider in the chalk. Hundreds of caves were dug in the area, some of which form a huge, astonishingly complex underground maze.
---To read the rest of this article, courtesy of Israel Nature & National Parks Protection Authority, see Arutz-7's Travel Page
The soft chalk is generally covered by a layer of harder nari, which can be up to two meters thick. In general, the caves have a narrow opening in the nari and get wider and wider in the chalk. Hundreds of caves were dug in the area, some of which form a huge, astonishingly complex underground maze.
---To read the rest of this article, courtesy of Israel Nature & National Parks Protection Authority, see Arutz-7's Travel Page