Free Republic

Cavers crawl along with the complex illuminated by the eerie light from a head torch. The system was once reached through trap doors in Jewish villages,some of which are now archaeological sites, others have been completely destroyed. Today, they may be no more than an indistinct, shoulder-width opening in the ground or hillside. The intrepid may have to crawl, even slither for a few minutes through a pitch-black burrow too cramped for a fully armed Roman legionary. Turns can be so tight cavers may have to back up to a spot where they can flip from head to feet first...

In 1943 and 1944, thousands of Polish soldiers were stationed in the Middle East to prepare for a possible Nazi invasion. Many soldiers collected artifacts during this period, mostly coins but also clay lamps, figurines, glass vessels and even clay tablets with cuneiform inscriptions. Some of these finds were excavated by the soldiers themselves. Evidence of this can be seen in the Polish Cave at Tel Maresha, in Beit Guvrin National Park in central Israel, where a soldier evidently carved the Polish army emblem on a wall. Other parts of the collection were purchased at antiquities markets as souvenirs from...