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Wadi a-Nuviris Cave, Binyamin

Grid ref.: 188152/151852
Location: East Binyamin
Elevation: 70 m above sea level

Cave description:

General:

Wadi a-Nuviris Cave is a small cave (total length 25 m) that developed by phreatic dissolution processes in limestone of Turonian age (Shivta Fm.). The cave consists mainly of a short, two-level passage that developed in bedded limestone dipping in a north-northwest to south-southeast direction (dip +º25.5 at azimuth 292).

The cave was discovered by Vladimir Boslov, Boaz Langford and Stas Primak in 2011 during a search for Amal al-Watwat Cave.

The entrance and its surroundings:

The cave has a rounded entrance (dimensions 2X2.2 m) that opens about 5 m below the top of a low cliff that forms the bottom of the southern bank of the Wadi a-Nuviris canyon. Access to the entrance is possible by rappelling with a rope that can be anchored in rock fissures above the cliff in which the cave opens. On the eastern side of the entrance several large stones were placed, serving as an improvised step that eases access to the entrance without a rope.

The cave space:

The cave entrance leads to a wide passage extending about 15 m, from the entrance southward. The floor of the passage slopes from the center of the passage toward the entrance and from the center of the passage toward its inner part. In all its parts the passage floor is covered with dry, dark, highly disturbed sediment, in which there are also many potsherds and a few flint items. The walls and ceiling of the cave consist of exposed rock in which signs of phreatic dissolution stand out in the form of domes and rounded dissolution depressions. In the ceiling of the center of the passage there is a wide chimney rising about 4.5 m above the passage floor. On the northern and southern sides of the chimney a horizontal passage extends, parallel above the entrance passage. On its northern side the upper passage connects to a small chamber that descends and connects to the entrance passage, about 4 m south of its entrance. In the inner part of the entrance passage, about 10 m south of the cave entrance, there is a low passage beyond which the passage continues about 5 m more. In the ceiling of this low area, layers of light, bedded conglomerate appear. The floor of this area slopes south and has potsherds and pieces of charred branches mixed into it.

Notes:

The Wadi a-Nuviris canyon can be reached by a 4X4 vehicle, which can drive on a dirt road descending from the quarry north of Kokhav HaShahar to the Wadi Auja outlet. From the rim of the stream canyon one can descend on foot to above the cave entrance.
At the time of the visit to the cave about 20 individual bats of the mouse-eared bat genus were observed in it.

Written by: Boaz Langford