This page was translated from Hebrew and has not been reviewed yet. The Hebrew page is the reference. עברית

Liman Cave - Wadi al-Hakam

Grid ref.: 156996/158632
Location: North of the village of Abud
Elevation: 350 m above sea level

Description of the Cave:

Liman Cave is a small cave consisting of a single space that developed in limestone of Late Cenomanian age (Aminadav Formation). The cave opening is cut at the bottom of a low rock step extending along its western bank, about 15 m above and along the flow bed of a small channel descending in a general north-south axis and flowing into Wadi al-Hakam (Wadi Liman). The dimensions of the opening are 2.5X1.2 m and its shape is arched.

The cave consists of a single space that looks like an elliptical room elongated on an east-west axis, its dimensions are 7.5X4.5 m and its height reaches 2 m. The floor of the room is horizontal and covered with compacted soil, its ceiling is rounded and covered with soot.

At the inner (western) end of the room, at floor level, a narrow passage with a rounded profile extends west for one meter. North of the passage, in the northwest corner of the cave space, there is another passage, extending at a steep slope about 3 m west, and its floor is completely covered with many stones. Between the openings of the passages, on the floor of the cave space, there is an area bounded by a rough fieldstone wall partly bonded with dark mortar. At the entrance of the northeastern passage there is also a basin built of fieldstones bonded with the same mortar.

In front of the cave, on the outer side of the opening, there is a horizontal area extending parallel to the rock step in which the cave opening is cut. Along the eastern part of this area a rock surface is exposed in which at least 8 cupmarks and stone basins (concave or conical) are carved, whose dimensions range from a few cm to a few tens of cm.

Notes:

The cave opening can be reached on foot from the settlement of Beit Arye or by driving on the road connecting the village of Abud to the village of Beit Dima.
Two individuals of the Greater Horseshoe Bat species were observed in the cave.

Written by: Boaz Langford

Name of the cave: Liman Cave