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Abstract

In 2022, a s salvage excavation was carried out in the south of the city of Rahat prior to the construction of a new neighborhood. Six sites were uncovered ( about 200 dunams in area) that join other similar sites in the northern Negev, which attest to the rural character of the region at the end of the Byzantine period. Monasteries, churches and agricultural farmhouses were built in the region, indicating that the area was inhabited by Christians starting at the early Byzantine period. The picture that emerges from the excavations at Rahat is of a continuous settlement that spanned approximately 300 years, beginning in the seventh century CE, or a little earlier, and ending at the beginning of the ninth century CE. During this period, the country underwent major political changes, especially in the transition from Byzantine to Islamic rulership. These changes affected the rural settlement and found an expression also in the religious architecture. In this article we present a survey of the churches and monasteries recorded in the northern Negev and discuss the architecture of the religious buildings uncovered in the south of Rahat as a reflection of the transition from Christianity to Islam.

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