Umm el-Aṣafir, Khirbet

INTRODUCTION

Khirbet Umm el-Aṣafir is located south of the Har Ḥoma neighborhood in the southern outskirts of modern Jerusalem, some 2 km northeast of Bethlehem and 660 m above sea level. The site was surveyed in the nineteenth century by the Palestine Exploration Fund; noted were rock-cut caves and building remains, including those of a church. During the 1950s, a survey was conducted by V. C. Corbo, who believed that there was a Byzantine monastery at the site, similar to one excavated at nearby Bir el-Qutt. The site appears in archaeological surveys conducted by A. Kloner in 2000. In 2002, its western part was excavated by S. Batz and U. Greenfeld, on behalf of the Staff Officer for Archaeology in Judea and Samaria.

EXCAVATION RESULTS

Excavations at the site indicate settlement from the seventh century BCE to the eighth century CE. The remains include a group of dwelling and burial caves, a Byzantine winepress, and a bathhouse complex at the center of the site. Three main periods were discerned in the bathhouse complex: Early Roman, Late Roman, and Byzantine.

THE EARLY ROMAN PERIOD MIKVEH. A mikveh was cut into bedrock, with a rock-cut passageway 4 by 2.5 m with 13 steps of varying width leading to the pool. The immersion chamber is trapezoidal. The southwestern side of the chamber, in which the entrance was cut, measures c. 4.6 m; the parallel northeastern side is 5 m long. In the northern corner of the room are two steps intended to assist those entering and leaving the immersion pool in the lowest part of the room. The mikveh attests to Jewish settlement at the site from the first century BCE. This date is supported by the material finds, which include coins of Alexander Jannaeus, as well as a fragment of a fine limestone jar (kalal).

THE LATE ROMAN PERIOD BATHHOUSE. During the second building phase, the mikveh fell into disuse and a linear-type bathhouse (rooms II–V) was constructed. A forecourt in the southwestern part of the complex, in the vicinity of room V, appears to have served as a palaestra. The northern and southern walls of the courtyard were found. A plastered floor was uncovered in room V. The dimensions of the courtyard appear to have been c. 10 by 7 m. A square Byzantine podium (see below) rests upon remains of a square pool (2.7 by 2.7 m) that is typical of bathhouse forecourts. The forecourt occupied approximately a third of the area of the bathhouse complex. Entry to the bathhouse was via an opening in the southeastern part of the court.

Between the forecourt and the heated rooms is the frigidarium, which measures c. 6 by 6 m (room IV). The frigidarium was the first room entered in the bathhouse and the last visited before bathers left the facility. It was fitted with a built bathtub clad in marble. The floor of the frigidarium was at the same elevation as the floor of the passageway to the warm and hot rooms. A drainage channel passed through the western part of the frigidarium.

The tepidarium (room III) is located between the frigidarium and the caldarium. Two corridors lead to the tepidarium: the southern, fitted with a door, leads from the frigidarium and is paved in marble slabs, as was the rest of the bathhouse; the eastern corridor, hewn into bedrock, leads from the caldarium. The approximate dimensions of the tepidarium are 4.4 m by 2.2 m. The lower hypocaust floor is paved in bricks, resembling those of the caldarium hypocaust, laid directly on bedrock. The upper floor is of marble slabs, found intact only in small portions at the edges, at the same elevation as the floor of the southern corridor. The tepidarium contained a pool-like seating installation cut into bedrock. The walls of the room were lined in marble.

The hypocaust of the caldarium (room II), c. 4.3 by 2.5 m and 2.6 m deep, was cut into bedrock, its walls and corners roughly plastered. In its northern part was an opening for the furnace (praefurnium). The lower hypocaust floor consists of plaster with small stones; the bases of hypocaust pillars (pilae), which were of square bricks, were located only at the eastern edge of the room. It is assumed that the hypocaust was equipped with four to five rows of pilae crossing the length of the room. The upper floor included a layer of hydraulic plaster, upon which marble slabs were laid, a few of which were found in the collapse of the caldarium, the layer of plaster still attached to them. The floor apparently slanted slightly upward from the furnace to the edge of the caldarium so as to facilitate the flow of hot air through the system.

Three types of fired bricks were found in the hypocaust. The first are square bricks used to construct the pilae and pave the hypocaust of the tepidarium. The second are trapezoidal bricks probably used as components of arches supported by the pilae. The third are rectangular bricks used to build the furnace. The walls of the room were heated by a network of box tiles (tubuli) with an ovoid hole at their center. Plaster bearing the negatives of the tubuli was found. The tubuli were covered by the marble revetment on the walls of the caldarium. A water tank apparently stood in the carved opening in the northern wall of the caldarium. The tank was placed above the vault of the praefurnium and hidden by the marble tiles of the caldarium. A lead pipe fed water into the tank from a pool (in room VI) at a higher elevation. The praefurnium (furnace room) is located on the northern side of the caldarium. It is connected to the caldarium hypocaust via an opening cut into bedrock, 1.5 by 0.85 m and 1.85 m high. At the bottom of the opening was found the base of a hypocaust furnace of fired brick, only eight courses of which have survived on each side. At the base of the furnace is a floor of hypocaust tiles. The back part of the furnace was fitted with an opening for the insertion of fuel (wood).

THE BYZANTINE PODIUM. Several alterations were carried out at the site in the sixth century CE. In the western portion (rooms IV–V), a podium of unknown function, 16.5 by 7 m, was constructed above the palaestra and the frigidarium of the bathhouse, marking the end of the bathhouse’s use. Laid above the western part of the podium is a plaster floor found in a poor state of preservation. At the center of the podium is a square opening, 2.7 by 2.7 m, perhaps a pool. A floor of stone slabs was laid in the area of the former frigidarium, upon a bed of broken bricks from the hypocaust. The new floor level is lower than that of the frigidarium. Vault piers were constructed upon the floor, and at its center is a square installation, 1.2 by 1.2 m, of an unknown function. Perhaps the hydraulic plaster at its base indicates that there was a fountain at this spot. The bathtub of the frigidarium was utilized during this phase.

In the vicinity of the northern part of wall 200, which dates to the Roman period, were found several rooms dated to the Byzantine podium phase. In one of these rooms, upon the plaster floor (floor 254), were found stamp seals bearing the image of a Christian saint or perhaps of Jesus. Similar seals are dated to the fifth and seventh centuries CE.

SUMMARY

The finds from Umm el-Aṣafir attest to the continuity of settlement and to the changes in the population that occurred from the seventh century BCE to the eighth century CE in northern Judea and southern Jerusalem. The first phase, which began in the seventh century BCE and continued until the Second Jewish Revolt, is characterized by a Jewish settlement at the site. The second phase began around the third century CE, at which point a typical Roman bathhouse, similar to those at Ramat Raḥel and ‘En Ya’el, was constructed. During this period, the entire region—including the sites of ‘En Ya’el, Manaḥat, Giv‘at ha-Arba‘a, Ramat Raḥel, and Umm al-Aṣafir—was settled by a Roman population. The “Romanization” of the region south of Jerusalem is a phenomenon not previously noted. In the sixth century, a Christian population settled at the site. They constructed the podium structure over the Roman bathhouse. Agricultural installations, including a sophisticated winepress and olive-oil press, are likewise dated to the sixth and seventh centuries CE. They lead to the assumption that a monastery was constructed at the site, as at others in the vicinity, such as Bir el-Qutt, Khirbet Lukya, Har Ḥoma, Sede Ro‘im, Ramat Raḥel, and Giv‘at ha-Matos. The site was abandoned in the eighth century, much like other Byzantine sites of the region.

SHAHAR BATZ

INTRODUCTION

Khirbet Umm el-Aṣafir is located south of the Har Ḥoma neighborhood in the southern outskirts of modern Jerusalem, some 2 km northeast of Bethlehem and 660 m above sea level. The site was surveyed in the nineteenth century by the Palestine Exploration Fund; noted were rock-cut caves and building remains, including those of a church. During the 1950s, a survey was conducted by V. C. Corbo, who believed that there was a Byzantine monastery at the site, similar to one excavated at nearby Bir el-Qutt. The site appears in archaeological surveys conducted by A. Kloner in 2000. In 2002, its western part was excavated by S. Batz and U. Greenfeld, on behalf of the Staff Officer for Archaeology in Judea and Samaria.

EXCAVATION RESULTS

Excavations at the site indicate settlement from the seventh century BCE to the eighth century CE. The remains include a group of dwelling and burial caves, a Byzantine winepress, and a bathhouse complex at the center of the site. Three main periods were discerned in the bathhouse complex: Early Roman, Late Roman, and Byzantine.