Khirbet Fa'ush - Monastery (?)

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Source of knowledge
Archaeological remains
Surveyed site
Surveyors: 
NameDate
Baramki
1930
Hussieni
1933
Magen and Finkelstein
1986
Excavated site
Excavators: 
NameDate
Har-Even
2005
History: 
The site had been occupied from the Second Temple period to the Mamluk period. A church was built during the Byzantine period, suggested to have belonged to a monastery. In the early Islamic period, the settlement continued to exist but the church had gone out of use, pointing to a non Christian population.
Discussion: 
In early surveys it was suggested that the site had been a monastery or a farmstead. The excavators did not present such a suggestion (Har-Even and Shapira 2012: 334) only stating that the settlement was Christian. Elsewhere, it was suggested that Kh. Fa'ush was a hospice situated on the main road to Jerusalem (Magen and Kagan 2012 I: 253).
State of certainty: 
Uncertain / Questionable
Architectural evolution
Phase name (as published): 
Phase IIIa
General outline: 
The church was established in a Late Roman public structure.
Dating material: 

Based on the numismatics.

Phase date
Century: 
5th c.
Within century: 
First half
Phase name (as published): 
Phase IIIb
General outline: 
The apse was enlarged and the bema transversed. New mosaics were laid and the southern doorway blocked. Benches were added along the lateral walls.
Dating material: 

Based on the numismatics.

Phase date
Century: 
5th c.
Within century: 
Late
General outline: 
An oil press was installed in the north part of the church in the Umayyad period.
Phase date
Century: 
7th-8th c.
Post Arab conquest history: 
Ceased to function