Front Matter

The excavation conducted at Ḥorbat ‘Illin Taḥtit (Lower) revealed the fringes of the previously excavated Early Bronze Age settlement at the site. A large residential structure, comprising two adjoining rooms and a large courtyard, was uncovered, as well as another, partially preserved structure, which was separated from it by an alleyway. Almost all the excavation loci contained a mixture of EB IA and EB IB pottery types. A small assemblage of knapped flint artifacts was unearthed; they were well-preserved and homogenous in composition. The small assemblage of faunal remains points to an economy based on sheep, goat and cattle. The findings indicate that the site was first settled during EB IA, followed by a gap in the early phase of EB IB; it reached its zenith in the later phase of EB IB. The article discusses the chronology, geographic distribution, and cultural practices in the Bet Shemesh region during EB I.

The remains of a rural settlement from Middle Bronze Age IIB were uncovered at the site, comprising two types of residential structures: the ‘courtyard house’ and the ‘terraced house.’ The pottery assemblage is typologically homogeneous. The economy of the villagers was apparently based on agricultural crops, which were cultivated in the valley of Naḥal Soreq. At the end of the Iron Age–beginning of the Persian period, a rural settlement continued to exist at the site, which was part of Jerusalem’s agricultural hinterland. A large building of the ‘three-room house’ type was exposed, as well as three other adjacent buildings. Most of the ceramic finds from Ḥorbat ‘Alona can be attributed to the last phase of the Iron Age, including a lmlk stamp and a lion stamp-seal. The ceramic assemblage from the Persian period indicates a continuity from the Iron Age. The agricultural terraces and fences were exploited after the sixth century CE, based on the pottery finds within the walls. 

In the excavation conducted east of the Siloam Pool, a plastered pool was partially exposed along a segment of the outer face of the dam wall. The pool was dated, based on the plaster that coated it and the pottery and coins retrieved from its foundations, to the later part of the first century CE. These findings attest that the pool was constructed during the Great Revolt, probably in its last year, and was in use for a short time only.

The colored wall-painting fragments presented in this article were retrieved from the Western Quarter at Gamla. The fragments are of excellent quality, most of them colored red, yellow-ochre and green, often bordered by black or red bands. Several patterns were noticed among the fragments: molding and marble imitations, geometric patterns, meanders, vegetation, thin pilasters and decorative borders. These fresco and secco fragments complement the previously published stucco fragments from Gamla and serve an important role in the reconstruction of the decorative schemes of the houses.

Excavations at Ḥorbat Ḥadat revealed a church paved with colorful mosaic floors. Two phases of construction were discerned: an early phase, comprising a basilica-type church and a complex of adjacent rooms; and a later phase, when the plan of the church was altered and reduced in size. The construction of the church is dated according to a Greek inscription in a mosaic floor to the second half of the fifth century CE. It is plausible that the church belonged to a large agricultural monastery that was in use from the mid-fifth or early sixth century through the seventh or mid-eighth century CE.