Image Details

Konstantinos Politis

Two excavators are shown working inside the cave in the photo above. Steps made of fine white marble slabs led down to a room measuring 6.5 by 8 feet—apparently the room where early Christians believed Lot and his daughters found refuge. The cave’s history extended back much further than the early Christian period, however. Below the cave’s Byzantine-era floor, the excavation team found objects dating to the first century B.C. and a copper “duckbill” axe-head from the Middle Bronze Age (c. 1900–1550 B.C.).