Ein Feshkha
Ein Feshkha (
Etymology
'Ain el-Feshkhah means "the spring of el-Feshkhah", Feshkhah being either a personal name, or a word with no meaning.[5]
Exploration history
In 1838,
In 1847
In 1851 de Saulcy noted extensive ruins north of the spring.[9]
Around 1860 Henry Baker Tristram visited, and noted: "Our prospects at Ain Feshkhah seemed as bright as at Jericho, and we were already prepared to pronounce the Dead Sea shore to be the shore of charmed life. Water, vegetation, birds and beasts, geology, and hot baths −everything was in abundance. The poor fountain has had, methinks, rather scurvy treatment at the hands of its biographers. [...] Perhaps our tastes were vitiated, or perhaps after the recent rains the mineral element was unusually diluted; but though the spring itself had a temperature of 82° Fahr. we found it tolerable. It made good tea and coffee, though with a slight flavour of soda, and we had no hesitation in determining to spend two days by its reeds."[10]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7f/PEF_Rock.jpg/220px-PEF_Rock.jpg)
In 1883, the Palestine Exploration Fund's (PEF) Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) noted: "In the neighbourhood of the Dead Sea there are also two springs of importance. The largest of these is 'Ain Feshkhah, near which is the little spring called 'Ain et Tannur. The water comes out from beneath the cliffs into a pool surrounded with canes, and runs over a shingly bed in several streams into the Dead Sea. The supply is copious and perennial, but has a slightly brackish taste and sulphurous smell. The colour in the pool is a deep green blue."[11][12]
PEF rock: Dead Sea level reference line
In October 1900,
Nature reserve
According to
The saline
Enot Tsukim is divided into three sections: the northern "closed reserve," the central "visitors reserve," and the southern "hidden reserve." The closed reserve is only open to scientists by special invitation. This section covers approximately 2,700 dunams. The 500-dunam visitors reserve features wading pools filled with natural spring water.[18] Due to ecological concerns, the hidden reserve is closed to the public apart from tours on Fridays.[17]
Important Bird Area
The nature reserve has been recognised as an
Archaeology
Excavations at Ein Feshkha were conducted by
Iron Age findings
The earliest structure at the site, located south of the spring, was an Iron Age II fort,[dubious – discuss] constructed at a similar time to the earliest structures at Qumran and down the Dead Sea coast.[citation needed]
Herodian complex
De Vaux showed that the Ein Feshkha complex was contemporary with the settlement at Qumran and theorized that they were inhabited by the same community and, while he dated traces to the period from 100 to 31 BCE, both Magness and Hirschfeld have concluded that the complex was Herodian, i.e. dates after 37 BCE.[21]
The complex is composed of a main building (24m by 18m) with central courtyard, an industrial installation with two plastered basins to its northeast and what appear to be stables to its west.[citation needed] The entrance was through two doors, side-by-side, to the east. There is a staircase in the southeast corner of the building, showing that there was an upper story.[22]
The spring at Ein Feshkha is now located 100 meters south of the main building found by de Vaux and at least 3 meters lower. In ancient times a spring, now dried up, just north of the main building supplied water. This ancient spring being several meters higher suggests that it was sweet, not brackish.
Other discoveries
Other discoveries at Ein Feshkha include a sizable vase from the first century BCE or CE with an inscription written in Hebrew/Aramaic using the Jewish script and a stone weight dating to the fifth year of king Agrippa, most likely Agrippa I.[29]
See also
References
- ^ Andrea Scozzari & Bouabid El Mansouri (2011) Water Security in the Mediterranean Region: An International Evaluation of Management, Control, and Governance Approaches, Springer, p.235.
- ^ Palmer, 1881, p. 349
- ^ The Holy Land: An Oxford Archaeological Guide from Earliest Times to 1700, Jerome Murphy-O'Connor
- ^ Ein Tzukim reserve
- ^ Palmer, 1881, p. 339
- ^ Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol. 2, pp. 250, 252–253
- ^ Lynch, 1849, p. 273
- ^ Lynch, 1849, pp. 274−275
- ^ Saulcy, 1854, vol 1, p. 36
- ^ Tristram, 1865, p. 251
- ^ Conder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III, p. 171
- ^ Hull, 1886, p. 22
- ^ a b c d R. A. Stewart Macalister, Observation of Dead Sea Levels, Palestine Exploration Fund, Quarterly Statement for 1901, pp.4-5, London 1901. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
- ^ ISBN 9780253019592. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
- ^ ISBN 978-3-16-150840-0. Retrieved 8 September 2020 – via academia.edu.)
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ignored (help - ^ Al 'Ubeidiya Town Profile, ARIJ, p. 19
- ^ a b INPA to celebrate Israel's wetlands this weekend, in honor of int'l day, The Jerusalem Post
- ^ "A green and changing oasis in the wasteland". Archived from the original on 2014-02-22. Retrieved 2014-02-12.
- ^ "Ein Al-Fashkha". BirdLife Data Zone. BirdLife International. 2021. Retrieved 26 February 2021.
- JSTOR 27927058.
- ^ Taylor, 2006.
- ^ Magness 2002, p.211.
- ^ Magness 2002, p.214.
- ^ de Vaux, Roland, Archaeology and the Dead Sea Scrolls, (Oxford: The British Academy, 1973) p. 82
- ^ Bélis 2006.
- ^ Ehud Netzer, cited in Taylor 2006.
- ^ Gideon Hadas, cited in Hirschfeld 2004, p. 207.
- ^ Hirschfeld 2004, p. 207.
- )
Bibliography
- Barag, Dan, "Ein-Feshkha" in Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls Vol.1, Edd. Schiffman, L., VanderKam, James C. (Oxford: OUP, 2000) p. 237–238.
- Bélis, Mirielle, "The Workshops at ʿEin Fashkhah: A New Hypothesis," in: Humbert, J.-B., J. Zangenburg, and K. Galor (eds.), The Site of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Archaeological Interpretations and Debates (Leiden: Brill, 2006), (pp. 253- 262)
- Conder, C.R.; Kitchener, H.H. (1883). The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, and Archaeology. Vol. 3. London: Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
- de Vaux, R., "Fouilles de Feshka, Rapport preliminaire." Revue Biblique 66 (1959), 225–255.
- Hirschfeld, Y., Qumran in Context: Reassessing the Archaeological Evidence, (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2004). Ch. 4, pp. 183–209.
- Hull, E. (1886). The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoir on the Physical Geology and Geography of Arabia Petraea. Vol. 7. Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
- Lynch, W.F. (1849). Narrative of the United States' Expedition to the River Jordan and the Dead Sea. London: Richard Bentley.
- Magness, J., Archaeology and the Dead Sea Scrolls (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002). Ch. 10, pp. 210–217.
- Netzer, E., Did Any Perfume Industry Exist at ʿEin Fashkhah? in: Israel Exploration Journal, 55 (2005), 97–100.
- Palmer, E.H. (1881). The Survey of Western Palestine: Arabic and English Name Lists Collected During the Survey by Lieutenants Conder and Kitchener, R. E. Transliterated and Explained by E.H. Palmer. Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
- Robinson, E.; Smith, E. (1841). Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A Journal of Travels in the year 1838. Vol. 2. Boston: Crocker & Brewster.
- Saulcy, L.F. de (1854). Narrative of a journey round the Dead Sea, and in the Bible lands, in 1850 and 1851. Vol. 2, new edition. London: R. Bentley.
- ISBN 0-02-865928-7
- Tristram, H.B. (1865). Land of Israel, A Journal of travel in Palestine, undertaken with special reference to its physical character. London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.
External links
- Israel Nature & Parks Authority page on Ein Feshkha
- Ein Fashkhah, Thomson Gale, 2007
- Survey of Western Palestine, Map 18: IAA, Wikimedia commons