Yeroḥam (West) (A-8462)

Authors / מחברים

Permit/License Number

A-8462

Excavation Report

Yeroḥam (West) (A-8462)

Final Report

Lara Shilov Gont

In January 2019, a trial excavation was conducted in the Sewage Recycling Plant, west of Yeroḥam (Permit No. A-8462; map ref. 1908/5436; Fig. 1), prior to the installation of an emergency pool. The excavation, on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority and funded by the Yeroḥam Municipality, was directed by L. Shilov Gont, with the assistance of Y. Alamor (administration), E. Aladjem (surveying, drafting and aerial photography), R. Brin (plans), Y. Abadi-Reiss (scientific guidance), I. Lidsky-Reznikov (pottery drawing), T. Winter (glass), C. Hersch (glass drawing), and A. Rasiuk (District Archaeologist, Southern Region).

The excavation was located in the northern Negev Highlands, at Wadi Diqa and close to Nahal Shu‘alim, c. 500 m west of Yeroḥam and c. 240 m south of Meẓad Yeroḥam (Yeroḥam Fort). Field walls that were probably part of Meẓad Yeroḥam’s Byzantine-period runoff agricultural system were exposed.

The area is located at the eastern edge of the Revivim Map and has been surveyed in the past (Baumgarten, Eldar-Nir and Shemesh 2014). Previous excavations in the vicinity identified the remains of settlements from the Roman and Byzantine periods, tombs, cisterns, runoff-agriculture systems and extensive scatters of Byzantine-period pottery sherds (Cohen 1993: 1054–1056; Paran 2007; Permit No. A-3241). During 2002–2003, an IAA Conservation Department team built new courses on top of the foundations of ancient field-walls in the area of the Yeroḥam Sewage Recycling Plant.

Two long parallel field walls, oriented northeast–southwest and about 11 m apart, were uncovered (W109: length c. 27 m, width c. 0.6 m; W129: length c. 16 m, width c. 0.6 m; Figs. 2, 3). Both walls were dry-constructed of two rows of hewn fieldstones, and they were extant for about six courses. A probe on the western side of W109 (L101; Fig. 4) identified that this wall was constructed over the foundation of an ancient dry-constructed wall of hewn fieldstones, extant for about two courses (W110). Another short wall (W108; length 8.5 m, width c. 0.7 m; Figs. 5, 6), dry-constructed of two rows of hewn fieldstones and extant for about five courses, abutted the southern part of W109 from the southeast. A probe north of W108 (L100–L102) demonstrated that this wall was also built on the foundations of an earlier wall (W111), dry-constructed of hewn fieldstones and extant for about two courses. A few pottery sherds found in the probe, including bowls (Fig. 7:1, 2) and a jug (Fig. 7:3) date the wall’s construction to the Byzantine period.

Two probes (L121, L122; Fig. 3) were excavated on the western side of W129 (Fig. 8). Probe 121 yielded a single glass fragment, an infolded rim of a light greenish-blue bottle (L121, B1002; rim diam. 50 mm; Fig. 9), dated to the late Byzantine period. Bottles of this type were discovered, for example, in several excavations in Be’er Sheva (e.g., Varga and Nikolsky 2013; IAA Permit Nos. A-3773/2002), as well as in various locations in Jerusalem (e.g., Gorin-Rosen 1999:208–209, Fig. 1:11; Winter 2000:133, Fig. 10:7).

Probe 122 demonstrated that W129 was also built on the foundations of an early wall (W130), which was dry-constructed of hewn fieldstones and survived to a height of about two courses.

References

Baumgarten Y., Eldar-Nir I. and Shemesh N. 2014. Nahal Revivim – 164 (The Archaeological Survey of Israel).

Cohen R. 1993. Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine Sites in the Negev Hills: Mezad Yeroham. In E. Stern ed. NEAEHL 3. Pp. 1136–1137.

Gorin-Rosen Y. 1999. Glass from Ras Abu Ma‘aruf. ‘Atiqot 38:205–214.

Paran N.S. 2007. Yeroham Park. HA–ESI 119. https://doi.org/10.69704/jhaesi.116.2004.504

Varga D. and Nikolsky V. 2013. Be’er Sheva‘ (Central Bus Station). HA–ESI 125. https://doi.org/10.69704/jhaesi.116.2004.4366

Winter T. 2000. The Glass Vessels. In J. Seligman and R. Abu Raya. Dwelling Caves on the Mount of Olives (Et-Tur). ‘Atiqot 40:132–133.

Keywords

field walls, agricultural system, Byzantine period