Khirbet el-Ein

Khirbet el-Ein (lit. 'ruin of the spring') is an archaeological site located in the Judaean Lowlands (Shephelah) in modern-day Israel, near the ancient sites of Tel Goded and Beit Guvrin. The site consists of two clusters of ruins situated along the Roman road between Beit Guvrin and Jerusalem, named after a spring that once flowed in the valley below the lower cluster. No above-ground structures survive, and knowledge of the site is based almost entirely on its extensive rock-cut underground remains. First recorded by R. A. Stewart Macalister in 1899–1900 and comprehensively surveyed in 2017 by Boaz Zissu and other researchers, these remains include bell-shaped chalk quarries, an underground olive press, storerooms, columbaria, rock-cut tombs with burial niches (kokhim), and two hiding complexes associated with the Jewish–Roman wars. The earliest remains date to the Hellenistic period, while evidence from the Early Roman period indicates a Jewish rural settlement that was abandoned during the Bar Kokhba Revolt. Later occupation is attested by Byzantine-period Christian features and Early Islamic-period quarrying and columbarium installations.

Archaeological site data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).