Khirbet Abu ad-Danin

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Khirbet Abu ad-Danin
Khirbet Abu ad-Danin
Alternative nameKh. Abu ed-Dinein
Location West Bank
Region Shephelah
Coordinates 31°55′31.9″N35°02′17.1″E / 31.925528°N 35.038083°E / 31.925528; 35.038083
New Israel Grid 153/148
Typevillage
Area4 dunams
Height240 m
History
Founded2nd century BCE
Abandoned Bar Kokhba revolt (132–136 CE)
Periods
Site notes
Excavation dates2004–2005
ArchaeologistsIsrael Finkelstein, Zvi Lederman, Yevgeni Aharonovich
ConditionIn ruins

Khirbet Abu ad-Danin, Horvat Abu a-Danin or Kh. Abu ed-Dinein [1] is an archaeological site located in the central West Bank, just south of Modi'in Illit. The site represents a rural Jewish village from the late Second Temple period, founded in the 2nd century BCE and reaching its peak during the late Hellenistic and early Roman periods. The settlement appears to have been abandoned shortly after the Bar Kokhba revolt (132–136 CE), with only limited reoccupation during the Late Roman or Byzantine periods.

Contents

Geography

Khirbet Abu ad-Danin, at about 240 metres (790 ft) above sea level, [1] lies on the slope of a low hill in the northeastern Shephelah (Judean Foothills), overlooking the Modi'in Valley. The site is situated roughly 500 metres (1,600 ft) southwest of Khirbet Badd 'Isa, another Jewish village from the same period, [2] and about 80 metres (260 ft) north of the Nahal Modi'in riverbed. [3] The site covers an area of approximately 4 dunams. [3] [1]

History

Archaeological evidence indicates that the settlement was founded in the 2nd century BCE, originally as a farmhouse. [4] It reached its zenith between the first century BCE and the first century CE. [3] No destruction layer from the First Jewish Revolt (66–73 CE) was identified, suggesting the site escaped direct conflict during that time. [2] Instead, the site was abandoned several decades later, in the aftermath of the Bar Kokhba revolt (132–136 CE). [2] A sparse re-occupation took place in the Late Roman or Byzantine period. [3]

Archaeology

Excavations at the site revealed several stone-built structures. [5] Evidence from the village's center indicates careful urban planning. [5] The central buildings were constructed of well-dressed masonry, most of them single-story structures. [5]

Structures and installations

Building IIa, in the northeastern part of the site and separated from the village with an alley, [3] contained multiple doorways and lacked privacy and multiple features associated with dwellings such as courtyards, ovens or cisterns. Its layout and construction indicate an administrative or communal purpose rather than domestic. [6]

Building IV, located in the settlement's center, had a southern entrance flanked by elaborately carved limestone doorjambs decorated with egg-and-dart, bead-and-reel, spiral and rosette motifs. [4] Inside the building, traces of arches and a staircase pointed to an upper story supported by stone vaults. [4] The decorative blocks, reused as spolia, likely came from an earlier public building at the site in the Early Roman period, possibly dismantled during the First Jewish–Roman War. Given the existence of several public buildings discovered in the area, dating from the same period, identified as synagogues at Khirbet Badd 'Isa, Umm el-'Umdan, Horvat Diab, and Horvat 'Ethri—the spolia may derive from a public structure, perhaps a synagogue, that once stood in or near the village. [2]

Around the central structures were large, open courtyards, that may have served as livestock pens or agricultural work areas. [5] Along the southern slope stretched a system of subterranean installations, including cisterns and storage chambers. [4] Several entrances appear to have been hastily blocked in antiquity, possibly during the Bar Kokhba revolt. [2]

Finds

The ceramic finds consisted almost entirely of locally made pottery with minimal imported wares. Numerous chalk stone vessels, characteristic of Jewish purity practices, attest to the Jewish identity of the inhabitants. [4] Twenty-nine coins were discovered at the site, most dating to the Hasmonean (10) and Early Roman (7) periods, with additional examples from the earlier Hellenistic era, the inter-revolt period, and the Late Roman and Byzantine periods. [4]

Research history

The site was surveyed in April 1982 as part of the Ephraim Survey. [1] [3] The surveyors reported "Remains of scattered buildings built of very large field stones, some of them preserved to 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in). It is possible that a major building stood in the centre of the site." [7] Excavations led by Yevgeni Aharonovich of the Archaeology Unit of the Civil Administration of Judea and Samaria took place in 2004–2005. [3]

See also

Footnotes

  1. 1 2 3 4 Finkelstein, Lederman & Bunimovitz 1997, p. 142.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Aharonovich 2018, p. 41.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Aharonovich 2018, p. 37.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Aharonovich 2018, p. 40.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Aharonovich 2018, pp. 39–40.
  6. ↑ Aharonovich 2018, p. 39.
  7. ↑ Finkelstein, Lederman & Bunimovitz 1997, p. 143.

Bibliography

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