Tel Nizana Traditional Cache
Isracacher: We're going to archive this one since it is difficult to maintain it.
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Climb up and go back in time
Note: 2/6/13 This one may be missing. Last found a year ago. If you are planning on looking for this one you might want to bring a replacement cache so you can log if the original one is really gone. Thanks.
A Tel is an artifical hill made from ancient towns being destroyed and then a new one built on top of it.
Tel Nizana was first the site of an ancient Nabataean city during the Helenistic perisod ( 332 -63 BC) The Nabataean's were able to develop a flourishing agriculture in the desert by learning how to harvest the runoff water into terraces in the Wadis - something that the Romans (324 BC - 63 AD) could not comprehend - nor could the Romans understand how the Nabateans could move through the desert without roads. From the 30 papyrus pages found in this archeological site, the name of the town was Nessana.
Below the tel (On the opposite side from the cache) you can see the remains of the Byzintine (324-638 AD) Church.
You can see the small bath for baptism for babies as well as the large bath for adult baptisim since everyone needed to be baptized as the Roman Empire became Christian - Byzintine.
The remains of the building with windows on top of the tel today is a hospital from the period of Ottaman (Turkish) rule (.1516-1917 ) It is thought to be the first hospital to have an x-ray machine in the Middle East.
The cache is hidden under rocks. PLEASE be careful when lifting rocks and hold them from the top. There are scopions and other creatures in the desert.
(visit link)
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Uvqqra ba gbc bs gur gry va sebag bs fznyy ebpx jnyy npebff sebz gur ynetr ohvyqvat (ubfcvgny)
Treasures
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