Elijah's Cave on Mt. Carmel: Context and function

The Prophet Elijah's Cave on the western slope of Mt. Carmel appears primarily to have been a natural cave and over the course of time it was elaborated, enlarged and adapted for religious purposes. The earliest written testimony of the cave is that of Benjamin of Tudela, who visited the Land of Israel in 1165. Circumstantial evidence permits to presume that Elijah's Cave was used as a cultic place or shrine to Ba'al Carmel, perhaps since the Hellenistic period and onwards.