Maresha (Israel) is an archeological site with very long history. It was a city inhabited already in the Iron Age and Hellenistic Period. Destroyed in about 40 BC, it was re-established as a Roman settlement in the 3rd century AD. Ruins of abandoned houses, cemeteries, workshops, and quarries waited for centuries for archeological excavations.
During World War II, Polish soldiers from the General Anders' army--loyal to the Polish government in exile in London--visited Maresha. For many months earlier, after being released from the Soviet POW camps in Russia, they were traveling across Middle East and Palestine on their way to join the Allied forces in Africa. In one of the caves in Maresha, in a white stone block, a fragment of a pillar, they carved Polish military eagle with the inscription “Polonia, Warszawa” (Poland, Warsaw). To commemorate that event, the stone cistern from the Hellenistic period is known today as the Polish Cave.
Raising doves was widespread in this area during the Hellenistic period. Meat and eggs were food, droppings used as fertilizer. Doves were also sacrificed. This explains the existence of thousands of niches carefully carved in the walls of many caves in the area of Maresha. Such caves are called columbarium.
Some caves were quarries hewn by hand to provide building materials. The Bell Caves were dug during Byzantine and Muslim periods. They became abandoned after obtaining the shape of a bell, hence their name. This was to prevent excessive stone extraction and possible collapse.
