Zikhrin, Ḥorvat
INTRODUCTION
STRATIGRAPHY OF |
Stratum | Period | Century | Area A | Area B | Area C | Area D | Area E | Area F | Area G | Area I |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
I | Ottoman | 16th–19th CE | + | + | ||||||
II | Mameluke | 13th–16th CE | + | + | ||||||
III | Early Islamic | 8th–11th CE | + | + | + | + | + | + | + | |
IV | Byzantine | 5th–7th CE | + | + | + | + | + | + | + | + |
V | Late Roman | 4th CE | + | + | ||||||
VI | Middle Roman | 2nd–3rd CE | + | + | ||||||
VII | Early Roman | 1st CE | + | + | + | |||||
VIII | Persian/Hellenistic | 4th–2nd BCE | + |
EXCAVATION RESULTS
AREA A. Four main strata were revealed in area A. The earliest (stratum VII) dates to the first century CE. It consists of rock-cut cisterns and installations of a farmhouse, and a burial cave with loculi (kokhim) revealed in the western part of the area, reused in Byzantine times for storage, and abandoned during the First Jewish Revolt.
Attributed to stratum IV in area A is a large building, probably a monastery. The building (35 by 25 m) has a peristyle courtyard (9 by 8 m) whose columns were spanned by arches, common in Byzantine architecture. Composite capitals of a rustic style, one with crosses carved between the volutes, adorned the columns. A large room carpeted in mosaic, either the refectory or chapel, is situated on the northern side of the courtyard. On the courtyard’s eastern side a distylos in antis led to a room with a cistern, on its western were approximately six small rooms or cells for monks. Large cisterns were discovered around the building. An elaborate olive-oil press occupied the southern part of the complex. A fragment of a marble relief depicting a cross standing on Golgotha may have belonged to the chancel screen of the chapel. The plan and decoration of the building, its water installations, and its industrial remains recall monasteries of the Byzantine period. Ceramic and numismatic evidence date this complex to between the late fourth–fifth and the seventh centuries CE.
The entire complex was reused during the Early Islamic and Mameluke periods (seventh–fifteenth centuries CE; strata III–II). The courtyard was divided into many smaller rooms and storage bins. In the sixteenth–nineteenth centuries (stratum I), large flagstones were laid over the courtyard, reminiscent of the pavement in the Ottoman fortress at Aphek. Coins and clay smoking pipes dating to the Ottoman period were retrieved.
AREAS B AND C. A winepress and olive-oil press of the Byzantine period were revealed in area B, on the outskirts of the settlement. The winepress is composed of a treading surface with a rock-cut pressing pit in its center, a small drainage pit, and a large pool with a round, central settling pit for sediments. This installation, including the rock-cut pressing pit, was covered with white “industrial” mosaic.

A bathhouse was uncovered in area C. Its hypocaust was fitted with brick suspensurae and square tubuli. Water was supplied by three cisterns. Close to the bathhouse was an olive-oil press, where five storage jars were found in situ sunken into the floor. This complex possibly functioned as a hostel for visitors to the monastery.
AREAS D AND E. The principle remains of area D consist of a large winepress, parts of an olive-oil press, and a dwelling. The winepress had two treading surfaces, a small drainage pit for sediments, and two large collecting tanks; one of the tanks was rectangular and the other round, with central settling pits for sediments. The winepress was covered with white “industrial” mosaic. The storage capacity of the cisterns was about 40,000 liters, making it one of the largest winepresses yet discovered in Israel. The dwelling, which is situated to the north of the winepress, has several rooms arranged around a central courtyard and is dateable to the Byzantine and Early Islamic periods.
Three residential complexes were unearthed (structures E/I, E/II, E/III) in area E, which extends to the east of area D. They were first built in the Byzantine period and enlarged and modified in the Early Islamic period, when a row of rooms, probably shops, was built opening onto an alley in the southern part of the area. The rich ceramic repertoire from the structures, including a fragment of an inscribed oil lamp, dates to the eighth–ninth centuries CE.

AREA F. Four main complexes were exposed in area F: a church, a residential area, a bathhouse, and dwellings and industrial remains. The church (F/I) is a typical basilica (30 by 15 m) consisting of an atrium, a narthex, and a main hall. It was constructed at the beginning of the fifth century CE. The main hall and the atrium were entered through doorways at the northern and southern ends of the narthex. The square shaped pastophoria—diaconicon to the south and prothesis to the north—are on either side of the apse; in the center of the prothesis, a cross-shaped stone structure, perhaps the foundation of a baptismal font, was introduced at a later date. The floors of the church were covered with mosaics. In the main hall is a design of white squares, colored frames, and rhombs; in the narthex, one of medallion and guilloche patterns. A Greek inscription measuring 1.7 by 0.7 m was incorporated into the mosaic at the eastern end of the northern aisle. It consists of three lines reading: “Christ, help your slave Athanasia.” The church was used as a dwelling during the Early Islamic and Mameluke periods.

The residential area (F/II), dated to the sixth–seventh centuries CE, was separated from the southern wall of the church by a plastered path. It was composed of two large buildings divided into several rooms and courtyards; immediately to its south was a large cistern. The bathhouse (F/III) in the southeastern corner of area F is the second bathhouse uncovered at

AREA G. Quarries, plastered pools, and a winepress from the Byzantine period were revealed in area G. The latter consists of the usual treading surface; a pressing installation composed of a small stone basin with a perpendicularly attached stone beam (2 by 0.5 m), which served for special pressing operations; a small square pool; and a larger round pool with large treading surfaces attached to it. Two small vaulted chambers were located on the southern side of the installation. The entire complex had plastered walls and white mosaic floors.

THE NECROPOLIS OF AREAS G AND I. The cemetery in area G represents the southern part of a series of cemeteries surrounding
Area I is the largest cemetery of the Second Temple and Byzantine periods at
Burial caves from the first to third centuries CE and several arcosolia tombs from the third to fifth centuries CE were excavated by the Israel Antiquities Authority on the southeastern outskirts of the site. Tombs from the Early Islamic period were uncovered mainly in the southern outskirts.
SUMMARY
MOSHE FISCHER
INTRODUCTION
STRATIGRAPHY OF |
Stratum | Period | Century | Area A | Area B | Area C | Area D | Area E | Area F | Area G | Area I |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
I | Ottoman | 16th–19th CE | + | + | ||||||
II | Mameluke | 13th–16th CE | + | + | ||||||
III | Early Islamic | 8th–11th CE | + | + | + | + | + | + | + | |
IV | Byzantine | 5th–7th CE | + | + | + | + | + | + | + | + |
V | Late Roman | 4th CE | + | + | ||||||
VI | Middle Roman | 2nd–3rd CE | + | + | ||||||
VII | Early Roman | 1st CE | + | + | + | |||||
VIII | Persian/Hellenistic | 4th–2nd BCE | + |
EXCAVATION RESULTS
AREA A. Four main strata were revealed in area A. The earliest (stratum VII) dates to the first century CE. It consists of rock-cut cisterns and installations of a farmhouse, and a burial cave with loculi (kokhim) revealed in the western part of the area, reused in Byzantine times for storage, and abandoned during the First Jewish Revolt.