Sumaqa, Ḥorvat
EXCAVATIONS
Excavations continued at Sumaqa in 1992–1995, under the direction of S. Dar on behalf of Bar-Ilan University. In the built-up area of the site, excavations were carried out in two residential complexes (2 and 6), two olive-oil presses (4 and 31), a winepress (70), workshops (3 and 5), and a reservoir (10); outside the inhabited site, in four winepresses (8, 12, 471, and 472), four workshops (8
AREA 2 (COMPLEX 2). Complex 2 is a closed unit consisting of a well-built, two-story residential building with storerooms and workshops on the ground floor. It was built in the shape of a trapezium on a north–south axis and on a moderate slope, with a 2.40 m difference in height between the floors of its northern and southern sections. Its masonry consists of hard, trimmed limestone in combination with ashlar stones without bonding material. The walls were plastered on both sides; traces of the plaster were found in the collapse debris. The roof was a flat timber-and-reed roof covered with thick layers of plaster and mortar, as attested by the discovery in the debris of a roof roller utilized to compress the plaster and mortar. The northern wall of the complex was 16 m long, the southern 23 m, the western 32.4 m, and the eastern 33.5 m; the overall area of the complex was 640 sq m.
Several building phases were distinguished in the complex. The northeastern corner was constructed as a single unit; a courtyard and rooms were added on the western side and an additional building lower down on the southern side. The southern half of the complex, with its central courtyard, was situated entirely on a lower level. The original entrance was in the middle of the eastern wall; at a later date the southern partition was added, a gatehouse was built, and the eastern entrance was sealed. Annexes were added to the northern part of the complex; these include a mikveh in the southeastern corner and an underground area outside the northeastern corner, in which clay for the manufacture of pottery was found. A second story can be reconstructed in the northeastern corner of the building, based on the width of its walls. On the ground floor of this section of the complex were storerooms and perhaps also industrial installations.
The pottery and coins recovered indicate the existence of a settlement in the first–third centuries CE, but no buildings could be attributed to this period. The main period of settlement was the fourth to the middle of the fifth century CE. An isolated coin and a large quantity of pottery point to an additional period of occupation in the sixth to the beginning of the seventh century CE. The latest phase of occupation, from the end of the Byzantine period, ended in a conflagration, traces of which were uncovered in the excavations.
The small finds are varied and include iron implements, stone implements for grinding and processing food, bronze objects and ornaments for clothing, spindles for weaving, and iron nails for fastening wooden objects. Archaeobotanical studies of plant pollen remains recovered from the soil and from the plaster in the cellar and the mikveh showed that in antiquity the native flora of Mount Carmel was similar to that of the present day.
AREA 6 (COMPLEX 6). Complex 6, which extends over an area of c. 780 sq m, includes a rectangular unit measuring c. 230 sq m on the northeastern side, and a southern wing and a large western wing that were later added to it. The orientation of the walls of the original building differs from those of the later additions. Its position on a slope required that the various parts of the building be erected on different levels. The complex was enclosed by impressive retaining walls built of ashlars on a foundation of large fieldstones. The main entrance to the complex was on its northwestern side. The southern enclosure wall extended above a cistern dug into the chalk bedrock; above it an arch of ashlar stones was incorporated into the line of the wall.
Numerous architectural elements from the synagogue were found in secondary use in the walls and entrances of the complex, including a fragment of a lintel with a tabula ansata decorated with a stylized palm branch. A cistern with a capstone in situ and parts of two basalt hour-glass mills were discovered in the southern part of the complex. Remains of the building’s destruction layer, dating from the end of the fourth to the beginning of the fifth century CE, were uncovered in the excavations. On the floor beneath the conflagration layer was the latest find—a coin of Arcadius (395–408 CE). Above this level was a 1 m-thick layer containing sherds of hundreds of smashed storage jars that had fallen from the upper story. According to the pottery found in the excavation, which included imported ware, the buildings remained in use to some extent in the sixth–seventh centuries CE. Noteworthy among the finds from the main phase of the complex were a hoard of metal tools and ironwork, a small incense altar of bronze, and a group of Late Roman lamps, including one with a depiction of a menorah that was similar to a lamp found in building 2 and another in a burial cave. Medieval construction was uncovered in every excavation area, sometimes built directly upon the foundations of earlier walls.
BUILDING 4 (OLIVE-OIL PRESS). The olive-oil press is located on the southern margin of the settlement, but within the built-up area. It included two stone piers with a collecting vat between them, two T-shaped weights found in situ in a depression dug out of the chalk rock, a niche for anchoring the end of the press beam, and a large plastered pool with a capacity of 2,900 liters. Above the vaulted ceiling would have been a timber-and-reed roof covered with plaster. An outer staircase attests to the existence of a second floor. The majority of the small finds in the press are attributed to the fourth century CE, although based on the ceramic finds it is quite certain that it was also in use in the Byzantine period. Remains of another olive-oil press (31) were uncovered on the western fringes of the settlement.
WORKSHOPS. Twelve workshops were found on the outskirts of Sumaqa, six of which were wholly or partly excavated. Two workshops (3–5) adjoin the site on the northern side, and four others (8
WINEPRESSES. Five winepresses were excavated in the agricultural area (8, 12, 471, and 472), and another (70) on the southwestern border of the settlement. The winepresses dispersed throughout the agricultural area consisted of a treading floor and collecting vat separated by a filtering apparatus. Winepress 70 contains a more sophisticated apparatus consisting of a base for a wooden screw enclosed by a square mosaic pavement, a filtering vat, and a large unroofed collecting vat. The installation adjoined a structure with a roof supported by arches in its southern part. No treading floor was found there and the excavators assumed that the grapes were poured directly into the press. It is also possible that the skins from the other winepresses on the site were collected and brought to this installation for additional pressing.
THE AGRICULTURAL AREA. A survey of the agricultural land at Sumaqa, including a study of the natural features of the area, its ancient roads and paths, the settlements surrounding the site, and the extent of the agricultural terraces, found the farmland in the immediate vicinity of the site to consist of some 1,357 a. Two trenches were excavated in the agricultural terraces and mapping was carried out in the surrounding terraces (areas 33 and 34) and the terraced valley, with its check-dams and reservoirs (area 35). A field tower, a small farmhouse, animal pens, and caves that served as animal shelters were also found in the agricultural area. The pottery uncovered in these probes was attributed to the third–fifth centuries CE.
THE FINDS. An abundance of small finds was uncovered in the excavations inside the settlement, in the agricultural installations, and in the fields surrounding the site. They include pottery, stone vessels, glassware, metal objects, animal bones, archaeobotanical finds, and numerous coins. Among the pottery, storage jars represent 66.3 percent of the finds, most of them produced in the northern part of the country; imported Late Roman bowls are 11 percent; and various types of cooking pots also 11 percent. Most of the pottery assemblage belongs to the third–fifth centuries CE, but some earlier and later pottery types were also found.
Six-hundred coins were recovered, a small number dated to the Hasmonean and Early Roman periods, 4 percent from the second–third centuries CE, 72 percent from the fourth century, 2.5 percent from the fifth century, a number of coins from the Middle Ages, and 11.5 percent unidentified.
SUMMARY
Sumaqa was a rural Jewish village in the Mount Carmel region. It was established, perhaps originally as a farmhouse, in the first century CE. To its west are the remains of an earlier Persian and Hellenistic period settlement. The third and fourth centuries were periods of prosperity and development at Sumaqa. Some 20 residential complexes, public buildings including a synagogue, 20 rock-cut burial caves, 5 winepresses, 2 oil presses, and a dozen specialized workshops date to this period. The village was extensively damaged at the end of the fourth or beginning of the fifth century, but it was rebuilt and inhabited until the seventh century. The settlement’s agricultural area extended over approximately 1,357 a., of which 750 a. were terraced. At the zenith of its prosperity, the village’s economy was based on an advanced agriculture typical of the hill country, namely the cultivation of grapes, olives, fruit trees, and field crops, and the keeping of farm animals, mainly sheep. Surplus agricultural produce was sold in nearby and distant markets. An important part of its economy seems to have been an unidentified craft specialization, possibly dyeing. A new population inhabited Sumaqa in the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries. In the sixteenth century, the village was abandoned and never resettled.
SHIMON DAR
EXCAVATIONS
Excavations continued at Sumaqa in 1992–1995, under the direction of S. Dar on behalf of Bar-Ilan University. In the built-up area of the site, excavations were carried out in two residential complexes (2 and 6), two olive-oil presses (4 and 31), a winepress (70), workshops (3 and 5), and a reservoir (10); outside the inhabited site, in four winepresses (8, 12, 471, and 472), four workshops (8