Al Madawer Cave, Western Samaria
- Grid ref.
- 151141/172374
- Location
- Madawer village, near Nirit
- Elevation
- 109 m above sea level
Cave mapView the map (PDF)Description of the cave:
Al Madawer Cave is a chamber cave located at the edge of a dirt road between agricultural fields, at the northern end of the Bedouin village of Madawer.
The cave entrance, which measures about 1X1 m, is the upper end of a short chimney about 3.5 m deep. At the bottom of the chimney there is a low passage leading to a large chamber that developed along a northeast-southwest axis and measures about 25X10 m. It seems that this chamber was formed by phreatic dissolution processes and at a later stage also underwent vadose depositional processes, which created abundant cave deposits in the chamber, most of which are damaged today. The chamber floor slopes down from the chamber entrance to its center, and is covered with muddy soil and crushed rock. In the middle of the chamber there is a step about 2 m high, from which the chamber floor continues to its end as a rocky plain.
Madawer Cave was discovered following a report about stalactites stolen in the village of Madawer. After the origin of the stalactites was investigated, the village residents told about the cave and added that it had served them as a safe shelter from the bombardments of Israel by Iraq during the days of the Gulf War.
Notes:
- Access to the cave entrance is possible by a long walk from the direction of the settlement of Ma'ale Shomron.
- The entrance to the cave is through a vertical chimney that can be passed without a rope. At the bottom of this chimney there are large rocks that threaten to block the cave entrance, and care must be taken lest this happen while inside the cave.
- No bats were observed in the cave (July), but there are large piles of guano in it.
Written by: Boaz Langford
The cave became known after it was discovered next to the village
of Al Madawer, and it was reported that it served as a shelter
for its residents during the Gulf War.
