The Archaeology of the Early Islamic Settlement in Palestine

246 Pages·2003·2.32 MB·English

by  Jodi Magness

THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE
EARLY ISLAMIC SETTLEMENT IN PALESTINE

The Archaeology
of the
Early Islamic Settlement
in Palestine
Jodi Magness
Winona Lake, Indiana
Eisenbrauns
2003
ç Copyright 2003 by Eisenbrauns.
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Magness, Jodi.
The archaeology of the early Islamic settlement in Palestine / by Jodi
Magness.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-57506-070-1 (Hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Negev (Israel)—Antiquities. 2. Excavations (Archaeology)—
Israel—Negev. 3. Islamic antiquities—Israel—Negev. 4. Israel—
Antiquities. I. Title.
DS110.N4M24 2003
956.94u903—dc21
2003010582
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National
Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI
Z39.48-1984. †‘
Dedicated
to the memory of
James A. Sauer

Contents
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Chapter 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
The Models for the Israelite and Muslim Conquests 2
Why Yattir? 5
Problems of Survey Methodology 5
Chapter 2. Map of Nahal Yattir: The Survey Sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Tel ºIra 53
The Nestorian Monastery at Tel Masos 57
Har Beriah 58
Continuation of Sites in Govrin’s Survey Map of Nahal Yattir 59
Clusterings of Sites 63
Conclusion 72
Chapter 3. Settlement Processes and Patterns of Land Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
The Landscape, Climate, and Natural Resources of the Yattir Region 75
The Modern Bedouin of the Yattir Region 79
Pastoralists and Agriculturalists 81
The Yattir Region during the Ottoman Turkish Period 83
The Model of the Ottoman Period Cyclades 86
Dry Farming Techniques in the Yattir Region and the Negev 88
Agriculture in the Nessana Papyri 90
Installations for Wine, Oil, and Cereal Production 91
Chapter 4. The Darom (South) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Horvat Maºon 96
Horvat Rimmon (Eremmon) 97
Horvat (or Khirbet) Susiya 99
Eshtamoºa 102
Horvat ºAnim 103
Khirbet Yattir 105
Beth Guvrin (Eleutheropolis) 107
Beit Loya 109
Horvat Berachot 109
Chapter 5. The Limes in Southeastern Judea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
ºEin Boqeq 115
Upper Zohar 120
The Eastern Mount Hebron Sites 123
vii
viii Contents
The Sites Surveyed by Hirschfeld 123
Hirschfeld’s Chronology and Interpretation
of the Eastern Mount Hebron Sites 125
New Evidence for the Chronology and Function
of the Eastern Mount Hebron Sites 127
Conclusion 128
Chapter 6. The Central Negev . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
The Geography of the Negev 130
The Distribution of Negev Farms and Campsites 131
The Date of the Negev Farms: Haiman’s Interpretation 133
The Date of the Negev Farms: Avni’s Interpretation 135
Haiman or Avni: Who Is Correct? 136
Sde Boqer 138
Other Mosques in the Northern and Central Negev 148
The Farm and Mosque at Nahal Laºana 148
Map of Har Nafha (196) 149
Sites with Illustrated and Chronologically Diagnostic Pottery 150
Nahal Mitnan 152
Map of Har Hamran—Southwest (198) 154
Map of Har Hamran—Southeast (199) 156
Map of Mizpe Ramon—Southwest (200) 158
Map of Har Ramon (203) 158
Map of Makhtesh Ramon (204) 161
Sites with Illustrated, Chronologically Diagnostic Pottery 163
Nahal Oded and Har Oded 164
The Pottery from Nahal Oded and Har Oded 165
Other Finds 166
Map of Har Saggi—Northeast (225) 167
Other Sites with Illustrated, Chronologically Diagnostic Pottery 168
The Northern ºArabah: Nahal Shahaq 169
Chapter 7. The Northwest Negev . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Map of Urim (125) 171
Sites with Illustrated, Chronologically Diagnostic Pottery 172
Excavated Sites in the Northern Negev 174
The Northwest Negev 174
Beªer-shevaº 175
Chapter 8. The Negev Towns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Nessana 177
Colt’s Chronology 179
The Pottery from the Colt Excavations 180
Urman’s Excavations at Nessana 183
Shivta 185
Avdat 187
Mamshit 188
Halutza 191
Rehovot-in-the-Negev 191
Conclusion 194
Contents ix
Chapter 9. Did Syria–Palestine Decline in the Mid–Sixth Century? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
The Northern Syrian Villages: Dehes 196
House I: Buildings 101, 102, 103 199
House II: Buildings 104, 108 200
House III: Buildings 105, 106, 107 203
The Excavators’ Conclusions 204
My Conclusions 205
Antioch 206
Caesarea Maritima 209
Summary 214
Chapter 10. Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Works Cited . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Indexes
Index of Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Index of Sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231