Byzantine Farmhouse

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LA 42 (1992) 289-296; Pls. 31-34

A BYZANTINE FARMHOUSE

AT GIVAT EHUD, NEAR MODIIN

H. Hizmi

In August 1983, a rescue excavation was held in the Jewish settlement

of Givat Ehud which was then in the process of being set up.1 The site was

located about a kilometre south-east of Kh. Kureikur, Israeli grid reference

1538/1471. The excavation revealed a farmhouse consisting of a complex

of rooms (see Fig. 1-2; Phot. 1). Immediately to the south of the farm there

was a semi-circular courtyard bounded by a terrace wall of field stones (i.e.

unhewn stones) one course high, it had a radius of 8 m. In the north-west-ern corner of the courtyard were three troughs hewn into the bedrock and

connected by channels. Traces of plaster were preserved in some parts of

these troughs. A cistern to the north of the central building (L. 12; Phot. 2)

1. The excavation was held under the auspices of the District Archaeological Officer ofJudea and Samariah, and was directed by the author, Z. Shmuel, I. Kameiski and A. Ukonov(measuring) took part in the excavation, as did T. Slutska and R. Zion (drawing). The pho-tographs were taken by the author.

Fig. 1 Topographical map


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290 H. HIZMI

served as the farms source of water, and was reached by means of stairs,

only some of which were uncovered.

The farm may be divided into two parts: 1. The dwelling structure; 2.

The storerooms.

The Dwelling Structure

This consisted of a rectangular building some 10 m long and 6.5 m wide.

Its walls were made up of finely and smoothly hewn stones, preserved to a

height of 2-3 courses. The walls were some 40-50 cm wide and were laid

directly onto the bedrock. To the north and east of the structure, the bed-

rock rises above the level of the courtyard and the floor of the house, giv-ing the impression that the dwelling structure was sunk into the ground.

The buildings western wall was wider than the others (some 100 cm) and

it seemed to have been widened at a later stage. Beside the western wall,

not far from the entrance a staircase was found, built on to the mosaic floor

(L. 4 plan, Phot. 3, 7).

Fig. 2 General plan of the building


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291A BYZANTINE FARMHOUSE

Traces of fine, smooth, white plaster were preserved along the length

of both the inner and outer faces of the walls. There was a wide, slopping

layer of plaster between the bedrock and the first course of stones, which

was intended to prevent water seeping into the building. It was also possi-ble to discern a narrow, shallow channel running along the length of the

northern wall which was meant to drain rainwater into the cistern.

The building had two entrances: one, 75 cm wide, in the western wall

(Phot. 8), and another, narrower one (some 60 cm wide) in the eastern; the

threshold was above floor-level, with a staircase leading down to a room,

whose floor was paved with a white mosaic, with tesserae on average 2

2 cm. This was the only paved room in the farmhouse complex.

The Storerooms

The storerooms were separated from the dwelling structures by a narrow

corridor, which was paved with stone slabs to the south, while to the north,

the floor consisted of crushed earth. There was an entrance some 90 cm

wide in the very south of the corridor, leading out into the courtyard.

The rooms (marked L. 1, 13, 14 on plan, Fig. 2) were of a different

standard of building from the dwelling structure: the construction was care-

less, using roughly hewn stones. The walls, which were preserved to aheight of 2-3 courses, were not of a consistent width (Phot. 4).

There were two additional rooms to the north (L. 13, 14 plan, Fig. 2):

it seems that originally there was only one, with the dividing wall having

been added at a later stage. One course of this dividing wall was preserved,

and it is possible that it was never any higher. In the eastern wall there was

an entrance some 1.5 m wide. As mentioned above, the walls were not of a

consistent width, with the northern wall particularly wide. In front of the

entrance to the storerooms there were remains of an L shaped wall, one

course high, which might have served as a stall for farm animals (L. 10

plan, Fig. 2).

The Finds

Relatively few finds were made in the course of the excavation, with what

was found consisting mostly of various pottery sherds (fig. 3-4): parts of

bowls, a cooking pot, jars, etc. Very few fragments of glass or nails were

found. An important find, worthy of mention, was a fragment of a cross


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292 H. HIZMI

Fig. 3 Pottery


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Fig. 4 Pottery


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294 H. HIZMI

Fig. 5 A fragment of a cross

Fig. 6 Wine press. Plan and section


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shaped item, with a handle (see fig. 5). In its centre was a relief of a cross

with its four arms bounded by a decoration in the form of a D. It seems

that this item was made from part of a broken lamp, the curve of whose

body can still be discerned in profile. It may have been used as a seal.

Conclusion

It is possible to distinguish at least two stages of building in the farmhouse.

To the first stage belong the dwelling structure, the cistern, and the court-

yard, while in the second stage the storehouses were added to the west of

the central building, the corridor was paved with stone slabs and an en-

trance was made from the courtyard to the storerooms. Another story was

also added to the dwelling structure as the staircase on the mosaic floor

testifies.

A survey made of the surrounding area showed it to be rich in agricul-

tural installations such as oil and wine presses, and this might shed some

Fig. 7 Proposed reconstruction of the building


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296 H. HIZMI

light on the economic basis of the inhabitants of the farmhouse in the Byz-

antine period.2

An example of one of the wine presses excavated near the site is

brought below (Fig. 6; Phot. 5-6). The press was in two parts: a treadingsurface and a collection hole. The surface was 3.5 4 m and was hewn out

of the bedrock to a depth of not more than 20 cm. The sides of the surface

were made higher by the addition of field stones to a height of about 1 m.

A narrow channel (some 10 cm wide) connected the surface with the col-

lection hole. The hole was 1.2 1.5 m in size and some 80 cm deep and it

was naturally below the level of the treading floor. It is often possible to

find a depression in the bottom of collection holes, where the waste prod-

ucts collected, and such a depression was found during the excavation in

the south-west corner of the collection hole.

Hananya Hizmi

Archaeologist, District of Judea and Samaria

2. Finkelstein I, Hizmi H., Beit Sira Map, in: Archaeological Survey of the Hill Countryof Benjamin, Ed. Finkelstein - Magen, Jerusalem 1993, pp. 17-48, 99-131.

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Byzantine Farmhouse