During November 2007, an excavation was conducted at Khirbat ‘Ara (Sheikh Bahalul; Permit No. A-5268; map ref. 207846–63/712239–55), prior to construction. The excavation, undertaken on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority and underwritten by Mr. M. Yunis, was directed by A. Masarwa, with the assistance of T. Meltsen and R. Mishayev (surveying), T. Sagiv (field photography), P. Gendelman (ceramics), Y. Bukengolts (pottery restoration), M. Shuiskaya (pottery drawing), N. Katsnelson (glass), C. Hersch (drawing of glass vessels), L. Kupershmidt (metallurgical laboratory) and D.T. Ariel (numismatics).
During November 2007, an excavation was conducted at Khirbat ‘Ara (Sheikh Bahalul; Permit No. A-5268; map ref. 207846–63/712239–55), prior to construction. The excavation, undertaken on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority and underwritten by Mr. M. Yunis, was directed by A. Masarwa, with the assistance of T. Meltsen and R. Mishayev (surveying), T. Sagiv (field photography), P. Gendelman (ceramics), Y. Bukengolts (pottery restoration), M. Shuiskaya (pottery drawing), N. Katsnelson (glass), C. Hersch (drawing of glass vessels), L. Kupershmidt (metallurgical laboratory) and D.T. Ariel (numismatics).
Two excavation squares were opened and remains of a residential building from the Umayyad period were exposed. Three construction phases (III–I; Fig. 1) were identified in the building. Two walls (W13, W20) were ascribed to the earliest phase (III). They were built of ashlars and probably formed the southeastern corner of a room (L559); an entrance was set in W13. The excavation did not reach the room’s floor level; yet, the finds in the fill above it, including bowls, cooking pots and jars (not drawn) that dated to the Umayyad period, as well as an illegible coin, were indicative of the time when the room was in use.
The structure was enlarged in the second phase (II) and other walls (W10–W12, W14, W16; max. width 0.6 m) were added, built of dry fieldstone construction and ashlars in secondary use. Wall 10 (length c. 6 m), aligned east–west, was abutted from the north by W16. The two walls enclosed a room (L553) whose floor was made of tamped mortar. Wall 11, which abutted W10 from the south and W12, which adjoined W11 from the west, delimited a room (L556) whose floor was also made of tamped mortar. A room (L501) to the east of W11 was accessed by an opening (width 1 m) in the north that was set in the gap between Walls 10 and 14, both aligned along the same axis. A homogenous ceramic assemblage that included bowls (Fig. 2:1–4), cooking kraters (Fig. 2:5, 6), cooking pots (Fig. 2:7), jars (Fig. 2:8–11), jugs (Fig. 2:12–16), a juglet (Fig. 2:17) and a lamp fragment (Fig. 2:18), dating to the Umayyad period, was found in the fill above the floors of the rooms. Along with these, two artifacts were recovered, a coin from the reign of Maximinus II (309 CE; IAA 115432) that was found in the fill of Room 501 and a glass bracelet fragment from the Roman period (below) that was found in the fill of Room 556, next to W11 (L503), predated the construction of the room. These artifacts may have been swept with the alluvium from further up the slope.
The building was enlarged to the northeast during the latest phase (I). A staircase, which was built of large ashlars (W17; 0.4×0.5×0.7 m) in secondary use and led to a room (L504) that mostly extended beyond the excavation area, was exposed. A section of the floor was only preserved of the room. It consisted of tamped mortar and was laid on a foundation that included a crushing basin (yam) of an olive press in secondary use (Fig. 3). The ceramic finds from the fill above the floor included bowls, cooking kraters and bag-shaped storage jars (not drawn), dating from the Umayyad period, as well as a glass bottle that is also characteristic of this period (below). A coin from the reign of Constantius II (355–361 CE; IAA 115431), which predates the building, was recovered from the fill.
Glass
Natalya Katsnelson
Two glass fragments were found at the site. The first is a decorated bracelet (Fig. 4:1) of the Late Roman or early Byzantine periods and the second belongs to an Umayyad bottle (Fig. 4:2). The bracelet was made of transparent dark olive-green glass, appearing opaque black. The bracelet is semicircular in cross-section and is ornamented with a row of irregularly spaced shallow indents. This pattern is not very typical, yet the fragment could be assigned to a large family of monochrome plain and decorated bracelets that were common to our region during the fourth–fifth centuries CE.
The bottle is made of light greenish blue glass with a light lime deposit inside. The sloping shoulders, short cylindrical neck and the rim, folded inward and flattened at the top, are characteristic of the type. The walls of the upper part are thicker than those of the body. This slightly asymmetrical bottle is obviously a local product. Many versions of similar bottles appear in excavated contexts around the country, dating to the seventh–early eighth centuries CE.