First published: 20/04/10.

Anonymous

Wadi Feiran

Wadi Feiran (On tentative list)

We traveled twice to Wadi Feiran; in 1994 we spent four days climbing Jebl Seirbal and exploring the wadi leading up to it. In 1996 we again visited the site, measuring some of the ruins we found there. Among the interesting artifacts was found an oval basin carved into a stone with a square frame around the edge. Given the position of the artifact on the wadi floor, we assumed it had fallen from a height above. Whether it was from Bible times or prehistory, we do not know.

On Jebl Seirbal is a spring called The Gate (Ein Sha'Ar'Ani), which is at @ 4000' MSL. This spring flows at about 5 gal/min and disappears underground not too far from the rock face it flows from. The water is very good, as it is stored in the granite t'fun of the peaks of Seirbal.

Another very interesting phenomenon is a rock pedestal 250' above the laura on the east side of the wadi. We called it Moses' Seat, as we found that words spoken there could be heard as far as the wadi floor, perhaps 500' below. The laura here are not carved into the side of the living rock, as they are on the western side of the wadi, but they are built of stacked stone much like the Nawamis. These laura are double-wall insulated, again borrowing from Nawamis. The ruins of an old monastery lie to the south and above these lauras.

Some inscriptions can be found on the south side of the wadi. They do not appear to be Nabataean, as at Wadi Muqtab; I propose they are not alphabetic but hieroglyphic.

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