We wish to thank Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia for some of the information on our web pages. We share images and information with Wikipedia. We also donate to Wikipedia, & would suggest that others do the same. Lake Ram is a crater lake (maar) in the northeastern Golan Heights, near Mount Hermon. The only sources of the lake are rain water and an underground spring. The water does not leave the lake to any other body of water. The crater is a maar. The Lake is traditionally known as "Berekhat Ram" (also spelled Birket Ram), meaning High Pool. The area is associated with the Druze community. The site has been excavated for evidence of human activity during its history. Research on lacustrine sediments at the site concluded that the area has been heavily settled four times over history, first during the early Bronze Age, secondly during the "Hellenistic�Roman�Byzantine periods", thirdly during the period of medieval Crusader occupation, and finally in modern times. Between these periods the area became overgrown as local woodland regenerated, evidencing phases of low human occupation. During excavations evidence was discovered of Palaeolithic human and hominid activity. Most notably, excavation led to the discovery of the Venus of Berekhat Ram, a pebble allegedly worked by Homo erectus. The artefact has been claimed to be the oldest known example of representational art in the world. The Venus of Berekhat Ram is a pebble found at Berekhat Ram on the Golan Heights in the summer of 1981 by archaeologist N. Goren-Inbar of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. An article by Goren-Inbar and S. Peltz (1995) claims it has been modified to represent a female human figure, identifying it as a possible artefact made by Homo erectus of the later Acheulean, in the early Middle Paleolithic. The term "Venus" follows the convention for labelling the unrelated Venus figurines of the Upper Paleolithic. The claim is contested. The Venus of Berekhat Ram is an anthropomorphic red tufic pebble, 35 mm (1.4 in) long, which has had at least three grooves, possibly incised on it by a sharp-edged stone. One is a deep groove that encircles the narrower, more rounded end of the pebble, two shallower, curved grooves run down the sides. These grooves can be interpreted as marking the neck and arms of a figure. They closely resemble marks made in similar material by sharp-edged tools during exercises in experimental archaeology. The claim that the Venus of Berekhat Ram pebble has been incised to represent a human figure has been questioned in three ways. 1. Whether the scratched marks were made by humans/hominids at all. 2. If they were, whether they had any representational intent. 3. If they did, whether they were intended to represent a female figure. It is disputed whether these can be clearly distinguished from naturally-created lines. According to The Talmud, Sanhedrin 108a, Brekhat Ram is one of three underground springs, along with Hamat Gader in the southeastern Golan Heights and Hamat Tiberias, that opened up in The Flood of Noah and didn't close up again after The Flood. In a local Druze legend the lake is the "eye" of the "sheik's wife", the name for a hill nearby. Mount Hermon, referred to as the sheik himself, is supposed to have been separated from the "wife", whereupon her eye filled with tears. Most geologists believe that the lake was probably formed from the crater of an extinct volcano.

The easy way to get to Birket Ram, is to fly into the Ben Gurion International Airport. The airport is at the junction of the Haifa, Jerusalem, Dan, and Tel Aviv metropolitan areas. The Ben Gurion International Airport, (IATA: TLV, ICAO: LLBG), also referred to by its Hebrew acronym Natbag, is the largest and busiest international airport in Israel. It was named the best airport in the Middle East by the ACI organisation.[ The airport is located near the city of Lod, 15 km (9 mi) southeast of Tel Aviv. It is operated by the Israel Airports Authority, a government-owned corporation that manages all public airports and border crossings in the State of Israel. The Ben Gurion International Airport is considered one of the world's most secure airports, with a security force that includes both police officers and IDF soldiers. There are several hotels in or near Jerusalem. There are several Guided Tour Agencies offering standard city, and historical tours of Jerusalem, Israel and the surrounding areas. After arranging your flight we would suggest getting your hotel and then letting them arrange tours of the area for you. If you call the hotels Concierge Services ahead of your arrival, all of this can be pre-arranged for you. I do this all the time. It is safe and it works!!! I have never experienced a problem doing it this way! I have links to Priceline.Com on our page so that you can arrange your flight and hotel in the Jerusalem, Israel area.