Beit She'arim National Park

Beit She'arim Necropolis ("House of Gates") is an extensive rock-cut necropolis located near the ancient Jewish town of Beit She'arim, 20 km east of Haifa in the southern foothills of the Lower Galilee. Part of Beit She'arim National Park, the site includes the necropolis and remains of the town. Used from the first to fourth centuries CE, its peak occurred in the late second century when the Sanhedrin, led by Judah ha-Nasi, relocated to Beit She'arim, and his family was interred there. In 2015, the necropolis was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The necropolis is carved out of soft limestone and contains more than 30 burial cave systems. When 20th-century archaeologists first explored the catacombs, the tombs had already fallen into great disrepair and neglect, and the sarcophagi contained therein had almost all been broken into by grave robbers in search of treasure. This pillaging was believed to have happened in the 8th and 9th centuries based on the type of terracotta oil lamps found in situ. The robbers also emptied the stone coffins of the bones of the deceased. During the Mamluk Sultanate (13–15th centuries), the "Cave of the Coffins" (Catacomb no. 20) served as a place of refuge for Arab shepherds. Claude Reignier Conder of the Palestine Exploration Fund visited the site in late 1872 and described one of the systems of caves, known as

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