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

Caves of the Carmel and the Menashe Hills

Ovadya Caves

Grid ref.: 14781/24204
Location: Nahal Ovadya - Mount Carmel
Elevation: 57 m above sea level

Description of the Cave:

Ovadya Cave is a medium-sized cave consisting mainly of a pair of elongated chambers formed by phreatic-hypogenic dissolution processes, in limestone of Turonian age (Muhraqa Formation).

The caves were surveyed in the past as part of Olami's Carmel survey (published in 1984), which also described the 'Collapsed Ovadya Cave' located at the top of the cliff, above the openings of Ovadya Cave.

The cave has two openings, large and prominent, exposed on a west-facing slope, on the northern bank of Nahal Ovadya. The openings are rounded and their dimensions are: northern opening - 2.3X1.8, southern opening - 5.4X9.3.

The cave openings lead to a pair of chambers that developed on an east-west axis. The chambers are connected by two wide openings. The western opening is partly blocked by collapse rocks, so passage between the chambers is possible through the eastern opening (dimensions 3.6X2.1 m). In the lower part of the opening a poor, collapsed fieldstone wall is built.

The floor of the chambers is horizontal and mostly covered with dark soil and a few collapse stones. Some of the collapse stones were arranged in a pile placed in the center of the southern chamber. The ceiling of the chambers is rounded and wide, shallow dissolution domes stand out in it. A deep dissolution dome is located on the eastern side of the northern chamber; the ceiling of the dome reaches a height of 9 m above the cave floor. Like the ceiling of the cave, its walls are also rounded, and the rock layers in which the cave developed stand out in them (dip +8.5 at azimuth 32).

At various points along the cave ceiling moss grows, developing thanks to the light penetrating through the cave openings and to the weak water dripping from its ceiling. This dripping creates some cave deposits, including: a few soda straw

stalactites and tiny cave coral. The light penetrating into the cave space also creates a comfortable habitat for many pigeons nesting in the cave walls, as well as for various arthropods living on its floor.

In various parts of the cave, and especially in the eastern part of the northern chamber, potsherds and flint items were found. On a small rock surface located in the western part of the northern chamber there is a depression that perhaps looks like a rough cupmark carved in the rock.

South of the cave opening, close to it, several more openings are cut, leading to small spaces. These spaces, together with the spaces of the cave, are known as the "Ovadya Caves".

Notes:

The cave opening can be reached on foot from the industrial zone in the northeast of Tirat Carmel.
Entry into the cave is possible through its southern opening. In front of its northern opening grow many prickly pears that block access to the opening.
No bats were observed in the cave and no guano was seen