Karkur ‘Illit, Ḥorvat
INTRODUCTION
The ruins of
EXCAVATION RESULTS
THE CHURCH BUILDING. A Byzantine basilica in plan, the church includes a narthex and an atrium to the west and an annex consisting of several rooms to the north and south. The church, including its two annexes, was almost square in plan, c. 26 by 25 m. Its main hall was rectangular (c. 23 by 14 m) and apparently lacked an apse, at least in its latest phase of construction. It was oriented to the east. The sanctuary, or bema, was 0.50 m higher than the floor of the church and was approached by three stone steps in front of the altar.

Two pastophoria, or sacristies, flanked the central area around the synthronon; behind it was a storeroom. The northern sacristy had a simple beaten-earth floor under which were found numerous fragments of glass oil lamps. The southern sacristy was paved with a mosaic decorated with a geometric net-pattern design. An inscription in its doorway mentions the paramonarios Theodore, the church official serving when the room was paved. Another inscription inside a medallion in the middle of the room was completely destroyed by the later digging of a tomb. This southern room had most likely served as the diaconicon. Doorways in the sacristies opened onto the church at the eastern end of the northern and southern aisles. Two rows of five columns separated the aisles from the nave. Only a few column bases were found in situ, but column drums were found throughout the church, some partly reused for other purposes, such as to cover a tomb in the church pavement or to reinforce the floor under the mosaic in the diaconicon. Stone benches were attached to the church’s northern and southern walls.
The northern annex includes two square storerooms that were originally interconnected; one of the rooms also opened into the church’s interior. To the west of the latter room is a baptistery divided into two parts by a stylobate. Its westernmost, longer area is rectangular in plan and has two doorways, one leading into the atrium and the other into the church. The southern annex has a similar configuration of rooms, but their purpose is unknown. The initial assumption that this annex, which may have had an upper story, belonged to a monastic community, was not supported by epigraphic or other evidence. The finds in the southern annex indicated that it had served as living quarters until the Early Islamic period.

Access to the church was through three doorways in the western wall opposite the nave and the aisles; large fragments of a decorated lintel were also uncovered. Beyond the doorways extended the narthex, with a flagstone pavement similar to the church’s floor. Part of the southern aisle of the atrium was also cleared; the atrium was much narrower than the church. About 5.5 m west of the entrances to the church, a deep shaft leading to an underground cistern was partly excavated. Two small settling pools were found north and west of the water shaft. Three original floor levels were discovered around the western pool, located 2.5 m north of the center of the atrium.
THE TOMBS. The most striking feature of the Karkur complex is the large number of tombs embedded in the church pavement. There are 20 in all, including the one in the diaconicon. Each aisle contains 5 tombs, and there are 9 in the nave, all lined up in symmetrical rows. Most of the tombs could be detected by differing patterns of the flagstones on the church floor. Two of the tombs were partly covered with reused pieces of marble, another with a stone chancel screen. One tomb was covered with three column drums; three other tombs lacked an upper covering slab in the church floor. It is evident that the placement of the tombs was carefully planned. Each of the graves was c. 1 m below the floor. They were of a trough type, mostly built of large and roughly hewn stones; only two tombs were built of well-dressed stones. The inner lid usually consisted of four stones. In six of the tombs, the lid on the western side, above the head of the deceased, was slightly vaulted. In one tomb, three of the lid stones had been numbered with Greek letters. Each tomb contained from one to six individuals, the bodies having been laid one above the other. In three cases, the skeleton of a four- or five-month-old baby was found lying on the pelvis of a young woman. Some tombs contained the bodies of a man and a woman, others of a man alone. Most may be assumed to have been family burials, while some may have been burials of monks or clergy. In any case, the large number of family tombs is a unique feature in the Byzantine archaeology of the region.
THE BAPTISTERY. The baptistery consisted of two rooms, one paved with a mosaic bearing a simple geometric decoration. The white mosaic in the eastern, square room was surrounded by a double ornamental frame enclosing symmetrical rows of tiny, stylized, colored flowers. The mosaic in the larger, rectangular, western room bore a simpler net-pattern decoration over about a third of the pavement, while the remainder was carpeted in plain white mosaic. The remains of the baptismal font were uncovered, its size and shape differing in its two periods of use. Initially, the font was a large round structure (2.70 by 2.70 m, 0.54 m deep) plastered with mortar and intended for adult baptisms. In its interior was a quatrefoil basin with two small steps in one of the lobes and one step in each of the other three. In the second phase, possibly after the destruction of the church, the font was covered with the same white mosaic that carpeted the rest of the hall. A small monolith basin (0.80 by 0.80 m), most likely for the baptism of infants only, was affixed to one of the lobes of the older font, replacing it. The reason for this change might be that the church was restored after Christianity was adopted by all the inhabitants of the region, so that only infants had to undergo baptism. Traces of the frame of an inscription were discovered in the mosaic pavement at the entrance leading into the baptistery from the atrium, but nothing survived of the inscription itself.

FINDS. Among the architectural fragments from the church were several decorative pieces, including the relief of the head of a deer or gazelle. Chancel screen pieces included finely carved marbles with plant and fruit motifs and stone fragments decorated with various patterns. The small number of bronze coins uncovered ranged from the end of the fourth to the beginning of the eighth centuries and included two Vandal coins. Among the glass pieces, the most interesting were fragments of two tiny zoomorphic cosmetic flasks. Some of the glass fragments and coins were recovered from the earth covering the tombs. Inside the tombs were found leather sandals, silver finger rings and earrings, bronze buttons and belt-buckles, and two gold-thread wads. One of the skulls bore marks of a hair-net on the front. Numerous fragments of wooden coffins were also discovered. Scattered on the floor of the church were hundreds of iron nails. One of the storerooms contained numerous large pieces of iron of unknown use, hundreds of tesserae, and six complete storage jars for oil or wine. The pottery assemblage from Karkur included cooking pots, oil lamps, fine Byzantine ware, a large imported red dish, and an Early Islamic juglet and small plate. Among the animal bones, besides those of camel and dog, were bones of sheep, goat, pig, and chicken, which reveal the everyday diet of the inhabitants, particularly of the transients who occupied the site after the church was no longer in use. Remarkable in number and variety are tiny fish bones discovered on the site, revealing a considerable trade in fish, particularly from the Red Sea. The wood and charcoal fragments attest that cedar of Lebanon was used for the beams of the ceilings, and cypress, pine, and palm tree wood for the production of the coffins. Particularly interesting are some recovered fragments of inscriptions carved in marble or local limestone, one referring to “[Sala]manos, priest of Malatha,” another mentioning a bishop, and a third reading “the year 615 according to the Gazaeans,” or 554–555 CE.
CONCLUSIONS
The excavation of the
The numerous fragments of decorated marble and stone chancel screens found scattered throughout the church, some of them reused in the repaving of the bema, and the reuse of numerous marble and stone fragments, especially column drums, attest to an extensive rebuilding of the church, probably in the mid-sixth century CE, some time after its destruction. The church may have been destroyed in an earthquake, as is suggested by a second wall attached to, and reinforcing, the building’s northernmost wall. A similar reinforcement wall has been found at other Byzantine sites of the Negev, such as Sobata and Oboda.
PAU FIGUERAS
INTRODUCTION
The ruins of
EXCAVATION RESULTS
THE CHURCH BUILDING. A Byzantine basilica in plan, the church includes a narthex and an atrium to the west and an annex consisting of several rooms to the north and south. The church, including its two annexes, was almost square in plan, c. 26 by 25 m. Its main hall was rectangular (c. 23 by 14 m) and apparently lacked an apse, at least in its latest phase of construction. It was oriented to the east. The sanctuary, or bema, was 0.50 m higher than the floor of the church and was approached by three stone steps in front of the altar.