Bible Archeology Discoveries

Search Finds

Select a Find

Category

Maresha Subterranean Complexes
Discovered: Tel Maresha, Beit Guvrin–Maresha National Park, Judean Lowlands, Israel
From: (c. Iron Age through Hellenistic period and later reuse; many major complexes date to the Hellenistic period)

Find on Map Link to More

Under ancient Maresha, residents carved networks of chambers into the soft limestone and chalk. Some began as quarries and were later used as storerooms, water cisterns, olive presses, dovecotes, workshops, and places of worship. Stairways often connected the underground rooms with buildings above.

Many of the best-known complexes belong to the Hellenistic period, when Maresha was an important town in Idumea. The chambers and the objects found inside them show how people worked, traded, and worshiped. The wider Maresha–Bet Guvrin cave landscape also includes remains from other periods, so not every chamber should be described as Idumean.

Joshua 15:44; 2 Chronicles 11:8; Micah 1:15 (references to Mareshah and its region; not to these excavated underground complexes).

Page 61 of 128

Notable Finds

Much of what is described in Bible text is lost to history, requiring readers to assume the historicity of the scriptures.

However, many of the places and events described in the Old and New Testaments are periodically corroborated by archeological finds.

Some finds simply help us to better understand things from the ancient world. However, others provide important evidence as to the truth of scripture regarding things about which there had previously been skepticism.

Note: Click any image on these pages to see larger photos.