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Caves in Israel

The reconstruction of a Homo neanderthalensis, who lived within Eurasia from circa 400,000 until 40,000 years ago, mirrors at the Neanderthal Museum in Mettmann, Germany, on July 3, 2019. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
July 17, 2025, 7:01 am
Cooking up caveman culture, study shows Neanderthal neighbors were split on how to butcher
By comparing cut marks on bones found at northern Israel caves, researchers find early humans clung to passed-down methods just like you might stick to grandma’s recipes
By Rossella Tercatin
Archaeologists carefully remove the swords from the entrance of the cave where they were discovered in the Judean desert. (Emil Aladjem/IAA)
September 7, 2023, 2:10 am
Crack unit of rock-climbing archaeologists claims success in curbing antiquities theft
Six years into wide-scale Judean Desert cave survey operation, few Dead Sea Scrolls fragments are found. But the Land of Israel’s historical picture is ever more in focus, says IAA
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
A team of researchers explores the "Portal to Hades" in the Teomim Caves near Beit Shemesh during a recent expedition. (courtesy Boaz Zissu)
July 19, 2023, 1:07 am
New finds show cave near Beit Shemesh may have been seen as a door to the underworld
Oil lamps and fragments of human skull lead archaeologists to believe Teomim Cave was used for necromancy, or communication with dead, some 1,700 years ago
By Melanie Lidman
Nissim Kahlon's home, chiseled out of the sandstone cliffs, overlooks the Mediterranean Sea in Herzliya, June 28, 2023. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
July 13, 2023, 8:05 pm
After 50 years, government seeks to evict squatter from cave home on Herzliya beach
Nissim Kahlon has been carving out elaborate, mosaic-filled labyrinth since 1973; Environmental Protection Ministry claims home is illegal, threatens coastline
By Ilan Ben Zion and Ariel Schalit
Illustrative: A spider inside a deep dark cave. (iStock by Getty Images)
February 16, 2023, 10:13 am
7 new spider species found in the depths of Israeli caves
Hebrew University-led research discovers blind and semi-blind arachnids in Galilee and central Israel surprisingly closer evolutionarily to European species than to their neighbors
By ToI Staff
2,200-year-old silver coins that were discovered in a wooden box inside a cave in Wadi Muraba‘at near the Dead Sea. (Shai Halevy, Israel Antiquities Authority)
December 13, 2022, 8:32 am
2,200-year-old coin hoard gives hard proof of Book of Maccabees, say archaeologists
Trove of silver coins – two months’ average salary – documents bloody persecution preceding the famous Hanukkah revolt when Jews fled to the desert, as written in I Maccabees 2:29
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
Herod’s calcite-alabaster bathtub found in Kypros fortress (Prof. Amos Frumkin, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
May 17, 2022, 4:48 pm
Alabaster for Herod the Great’s lavish bathtubs traced to quarry in Israel
Daughter-father scientific study rules out Egyptian quarries and shows ancient Holy Land industry was potentially much more developed than previously thought
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
The subterranean lake in the Ayalon Cave near Ramle, in central Israel. (Israel Ne'eman)
June 14, 2021, 9:18 pm
Scientists warn that flooding cave will ruin unique 5-million-year-old ecosystem
Blind, colorless arthropods make their home in Ayalon Cave in central Israel, thriving in dark, oxygen-free environment, fed by sulfurous water rising from deep in the earth
By Sue Surkes
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March 16, 2021, 4:08 pm
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By ToI Staff
Archaeologists Hagay Hamer and Oriah Amichai sieving finds at the entrance to the Cave of Horror. (Eitan Klein, Israel Antiquities Authority)
March 16, 2021, 9:00 am
Bible scroll fragments among dazzling artifacts found in Dead Sea Cave of Horror
Parts of books of Nahum and Zechariah, world’s oldest woven basket, 6,000-year-old mummified child, Bar Kochba Revolt coins among stunning finds from daring Judean Desert rescue op
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
160,000-year-old clam shell fossils from Misliya Cave in Israel's Carmel Mountains (Oz Rittner)
July 9, 2020, 8:55 pm
World’s 1st necklace? Prehistoric painted shells, once on twine, found in Israel
Experiments on 160,000-year-old clam shell fossils in northern caves indicate they are earliest examples of shell beads strung for display on the human body, Israeli scientists say
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
Police and rescue workers extract three men who got stuck in a cave near the Galilee town of Iksal while searching for treasure, June 6, 2020. (Israel Police)
June 6, 2020, 5:37 pm
Treasure hunting, three men get trapped in a Galilee cave
Rescue teams extract the Nazareth residents from cave near northern town of Iksal; 2 of them require hospitalization
By ToI Staff
One of the vertical openings that allows cavers to rappel down into the Malcham cave system from the top of Mount Sodom near the southern Dead Sea, pictured on March 22, 2019. (courtesy Anton Chikishev/Hebrew Unviersity)
March 28, 2019, 5:04 am
A hollow victory: Israel claims title of world’s largest salt cave from Iran
Malcham salt cave near Dead Sea finally measured at over 10 km, beating Iran’s 3N Cave; cavers downplay politics of find, saying this was an act of international cooperation
By Melanie Lidman
Scene where a 78-year-old man died while rappelling near Karnei Shomron in northern Israel on August 17, 2018. (Magen David Adom)
August 17, 2018, 2:24 pm
78-year-old man falls to death while rappelling in West Bank
Rope said to have snapped, causing grandfather to plunge 15-20 meters during trip near Karnei Shomron with group including his grandson
By ToI Staff
A newly discovered underground stalactite cave on the outskirts of Jerusalem, May 25, 2018. (Screen capture: Hadashot News)
May 25, 2018, 2:53 pm
Stalactite cave discovered 900 feet below Jerusalem
Workers digging route for new water pipe to Jerusalem and the West Bank find 46-foot-long subterranean cavern
By ToI Staff
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