Image Details

Section drawing of a typical cave in Nahal Mikhmas—a view of the cave as if an imaginary vertical slice were cut through the cave along the broken line marked A-A in the plan. A stone wall (tinted orange) was constructed to seal the natural opening of this cave. Since the cave could not be entered through the natural opening, entrance into the floor of the cave was secured through a carved, 10-foot-long vertical shaft (see photograph), which was carefully notched with toehold recesses for climbing. A bell-shaped water cistern, cut into the cave floor, measures 7 feet deep and 6.5 feet in diameter at the bottom.