Page 177 - A Walk to Caesarea / Joseph Patrich

A Walk to Caesarea: A Historical-Archaeological Perspective 163
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lighting has been installed. One may also choose a shorter path and exit from shaft Fig. 183 (left)
no. 4. The tunnel’s width is 0.9–1.5 m and it is 1.7–2.4 m high (Fig. 183); one can The shafts tunnel of ᶜEn ᶜAmi
walk upright almost all the way. The depth of the water ranges from 40 to 75 cm.
Fig. 184 (right)
The Shaft Tunnel Next to the Diversion Dam of Upper Nah. al Tanninim (coord. Opening of one of the
15040.21690): One may reach the dam by a short dirt road from the asphalt road shafts in a tunnel near the
linking the villages cAmikam and Aviel. This section of the active shaft tunnel is diversion dam of Upper Nah. al
closed off to visits today by a high fence and gate belonging to Meqorot – the Israel Tanninim
National Water Company. The shafts section of the tunnel is located on the other
side of a bridge. The entrances to the shafts, too, are closed by metal grilles. The
ancient tunnel runs here parallel to the course of a wide modern cement channel
(width: c. 2.5 m; height of the side walls c. 1.8 m) (Fig. 184). Seven diagonal,
graded shafts were exposed here, 37–48 m apart; the length of the tunnel is c. 270
m and beyond its course is blocked by fallen rocks in both directions.

The Tunnel Shaft in Nah. al Snunit (coordinates 14880.21610): Three shafts along
a distance of some 200 m are exposed here, but owing to rock slides it is impossible
to walk its entire length. Today the area is home to vineyards and orchards, so it is
more difficult to locate the shafts’ openings. Possibly, the tunnel continued up to
the Shuni springs and on the way fed into a cistern 400 m distant from the exposed
section of the tunnel.