Revolt-era hideouts and Byzantine church open to visitors in Judean Foothills

Tunnels where Jewish rebels sheltered some 2,000 years ago, alongside a Byzantine church paved with colorful mosaics, opened to the public this past weekend at Horvat Burgin in Adullam–France Park.The inauguration was a joint effort of KKL-JNF, the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Mateh Yehuda Regional Council, capping years of excavation, conservation and development.Digs led by Dr. Amir Ganor, Alon Klein and Dr. Peter Gendelman uncovered a settlement that endured from the Second Temple period through Ottoman times. Researchers suggest the large Second Temple village may be Caphar Bish, a place named by the historian Flavius Josephus.As tensions with Rome mounted in the Early Roman period, residents carved sprawling hiding networks into the bedrock. The settlement was destroyed during the Bar Kokhba Revolt of 132–136 CE. A pagan population later moved into the ruins, building anew above ground and cutting elaborate burial complexes beneath.In the Byzantine era, a church and…

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