Hadashot Arkheologiyot
Excavations and Surveys in Israel
ISSN 1565 - 5334
Hadashot Arkheologiyot
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Volume 128 Year 2016
H
orbat Barbarit
Yoram Haimi
15/11/2016
Final Report
In January and June 2013, excavations were conducted at
H
orbat Barbarit (Permit No. A-6699; map ref. 159702–60684/614765–5317; Fig. 1), prior to the construction of an industrial zone. The excavations, undertaken on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority and financed by Moshav Mavqi‘im, were directed by Y. Haimi (photography), with the assistance of Y. Al-‘Amor (administration), M. Kunin (surveying and drafting), S. Gal (GPS) and S. Ganor. D. Eisenberg-Degen supervised the digging of trial trenches prior to the excavation.
The excavation area (275 sq m) is located in the agricultural areas north of Moshav Mavqi‘im. The excavation that took place in January (100 sq m) yielded meager remains of walls and pottery that ranged in date from the Byzantine period to the modern era. The excavation carried out in June (175 sq m), located c. 500 m to the west, revealed remains of a building from the Late Ottoman period and the British Mandate.
The site is identified with Barbarit, a settlement of the Roman and Byzantine periods that is mentioned in the Jerusalem Talmud. The Arab village of Barbara was later constructed on the site. The village appears on a map prepared by Charles Warren in 1867 (Fig. 2), on the British Survey map from 1878 (Fig. 3) and on a 1935 map of the British Mandate Department of Surveys (Fig. 4). There is a file on Barbara village in the British Mandate archive at the Israel Antiquities Authority dating from 1925, in which the following were documented: three
maqams
(Fig. 5); the Sheikh Sa‘id Mosque (Fig. 6) with a large black granite column in its courtyard; and a stone lintel adorned with a vine decoration. The village was destroyed and abandoned in 1948 during Operation Yo’av (
Siskind 1978
:111). In 1950, J. Ory, an inspector with the Department of Antiquities, documented pottery sherds from the Roman period and an upright column inside the village (IAA Archive, File No. ATQ/518). Remains of the Arab village can still be discerned today scattered north of Moshav Mavqi‘im. Architectural remains and coins from the Roman and Byzantine period were discovered in the past, c. 800 m southeast of the excavation area (
Nikolsky 2013
).
Three foundation walls (W101–W103; width 0.4 m; Figs. 7, 8) belonging to a building dating from the Late Ottoman period and the British Mandate were discovered. The walls were constructed of medium-sized fieldstones and were preserved to a height of one or two courses. Wall 101 (length 13.8 m) formed a corner with W102 (length 17.1 m; Fig. 9). Wall 103 (length 12.8 m) ran parallel to W102 and abutted W101. The floor in the building was not preserved. A refuse pit (diam. 5 m) that contained metal debris and remains of modern fences was found south of W102. Several fragments of black Gaza ware from to end of the Ottoman period and the beginning of the British Mandate and metal items, such as pins, nails and remains of a barb-wire fence, were found in one spot (Fig. 10). According to local residents, this was the location of an agricultural building that stood in the orchards belonging to Moshav Mavqi‘im in the 1950s. A Russian coin minted in 1937 was discovered in the corner of Walls 101 and 102 (Fig. 11). The building that was exposed in the excavation was situated on the northern edge of the agricultural area of the Arab village of Barbara.
Nikolsky V. 2013.
H
orbat Barbarit.
HA-ESI
125
.
Siskind Y. 1978. Documents from the War of Independence.
Ma‘archot
263:8–183 (Hebrew).
1. Location map.
2. Charles Warren’s map from 1867.
3. The British Survey from 1878.
4. The Department of Surveys map from 1935.
5. Maqam.
6. Sheikh Sa‘id Mosque.
7. Building, plan.
8. Building, looking southeast.
9. The building’s northwestern corner, looking north.
10. Pottery, pieces of metal and debris.
11. Russian coin.
Print Without Figures
Print With Figures
למאמר בעברית
1. Location map.
2. Charles Warren’s map from 1867.
3. The British Survey from 1878.
4. The Department of Surveys map from 1935.
5. Maqam.
6. Sheikh Sa‘id Mosque.
7. Building, plan.
8. Building, looking southeast.
9. The building’s northwestern corner, looking north.
10. Pottery, pieces of metal and debris.
11. Russian coin.