page_title: Ein Feshkha
section_title: Archaeology
hierarchical_section_title: Ein Feshkha / Archaeology
caption_attribution_description: A second-temple-period agricultural sturcture in Einot Tzukim (Ein Phascha)
context_page_description: Ein Feshkha is a nature reserve and archaeological site on the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea, about three kilometers south of Qumran in the West Bank. Within the reserve is a group of springs of brackish water. The nature reserve consists of an open section with pools of mineral water for bathing surrounded by high foliage and a section that is closed to visitors to protect the native flora and fauna.
context_section_description: Excavations at Ein Feshkha were conducted by Roland de Vaux of the Ecole Biblique in 1956 and 1958. Hirschfeld excavated the site in 2001. The earliest structure at the site, located south of the spring, was an Iron Age II fort, constructed at a similar time to the earliest structures at Qumran and down the Dead Sea coast.
  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. 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.
  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. after 37 BCE. 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. A channel brings water from the spring through the wall to the north into a small rectangular tank on to each of the two basins. The purpose of this installation is unknown. It may have served as part of a tannery or for raising fish.  More recent analyses suggest it may have been used in indigo manufacturing, date-wine preparation, date-honey production or opobalsam preparation.
caption: Excavations at Ein Feshkha
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