Metsad Zohar

This is Metsad Zohar, or "Zohar Stronghold." ("Metsad" means "stronghold.")

This is one of those sites that there is frustratingly little information about. I have looked in every book I have about Israel and searched online and have come up with more questions than answers.

How did this canyon-type settlement get its name? Who lived here and when? What drew people to settle here?

The only fragment of information I found said that there are two ancient fortresses here, one Israelite-era and the other Roman. 

Metsad Zohar is a site in a dry canyon near the intersection of Highways 31 and 90. It seemed odd to me to be looking down at an ancient site. Most archaeological sites in Israel are located on the top of tels, high mounds that you have to climb up to. 

There was greenery near a pool of water, starkly contrasted against the brownness of the landscape, indicating a spring of water that would have made it possible for people to live here. In this dry, inhospitable Negev Desert, water was equivalent with life. 

So many unanswered questions are a reminder that previous generations did not carefully document their life stories and leave them in airtight time capsules for our convenience!