Mamshit; Mampsis; Kurnub - East Church monastery

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Monastery name, type, category

Site Name:

Mamshit; Mampsis; Kurnub

Monastery name:

East Church monastery

Monastery type:

Cenobium

Monastery category:

Village

Source of sacredness:

Sacred Objects

Location

Coordinates, ITM system:

206,114.00

548,230.00

Coordinates, ICS system:

156,106.00

48,224.00

Geographical region:

Central Negev

Provincial affiliation:

Palaestina III

Bishopric:

Elusa

Topographical location:

Level ground

Soils:

limestone

Distance from nearest bishop-seat:

ca. 40 km (Elusa)

Distance from Roman roads:

ca.0.2 km from the road leading eastwards to the Arava valley.

Source of knowledge

Epigraphy

Archaeological remains

Surveyed site

Surveyors:

Name	Date
Palmer	1871
Musil	1901
Wooley and Lawrence	1914
Kirk and Guy	1937

Excavated site

Excavators:

Name	Date
Negev	1965-1967

Bibliograpy:

Palmer, E. H., 1871	31-32
Musil, A., 1908	II: 25-27
Woolley, C. L. and Lawrence, T. E., 1914-1915
Kirk, G. E., 1938	216-218
Crowfoot, J. W., 1941	71; 156
Negev, A., 1968	407-408
Negev, A., 1969	21-22
Ovadiah, A., 1970	133-34
Negev, A., 1975	729-32
Ovadiah, A. and de Silva, C. G., 1982	154-55
Negev, A., 1988
Schick, R., 1995	401
Patrich, J., 2006	341-93

Abbreviation for Journals and Series

State of certainty:

Archaeologicaly definitive

General description

State of preservation/which parts were uncovered:

The complex was excavated in its entirety. The site is well preserved with walls surviving almost to their full height in places. Some arched doorways remained intact, and the paving is in a good state of preservation.

Illustrative material:

Illustrative_material

Photos

A wooden beam found in the debris of tower (Negev 1988)

The baptismal font after excavation (Negev 1988)

A building stone with an inscription found near the staircase (Negev 1988)

A burial in the northern aisle (Negev 1988)

Figures

General description

Enclosing walls:

The complex is located in the easternmost part of the settlement and is bound by the perimeter wall that was a later addition. The complex forms a unit that is separated from the rest of the town and is entered from the northwest.

Gate/s:

The entrance to the complex is in the western part of the northern wall. In the first stage there was a wide staircase (ca. 12 m) that ascended to three doorways entering the atrium from the north. At a later stage the westernmost doorway was blocked and the part of the stairs facing it was dismantled.

Courtyards:

A large atrium (14.5 x 15.9 m.) is located west of the church. On the western side of the atrium are openings that lead to the monastery area. A small irregularly shaped courtyard (L110) is located west of the atrium.

Tower/s:

Building IX, the tower (8.6 x 9.5 m), is the earliest in the complex. it may have preceded the church, as a watchtower, but was incorporated into the monastery when the church was constructed. The ground floor of the tower had three rooms and a vestibule with a staircase consisting of five stairs, the rest was of wood. A wooden beam was found in the debris. The tower possibly rose to a height of 7-8 m. The rooms within were neither paved nor plastered. It is not clear what use the tower served as part of the monastery. The absence of paving and plaster probably indicate that it was not used for dwelling.

Churche/s:

The monastery was attached to the large basilical, Eastern church of Mampsis that served as the town's cathedral. A smaller irregularly shaped chapel (16.25 x 3.5 [W], 6 [E]) was added south of the basilica, utilizing the space formed between the southern wall of the church and the town wall. This accounts for the irregular shape. The excavator suggested that this chapel may have served as a diakonikon for the basilica.

Dwellings:

No dwellings were identified by the excavator. However, the monks' dwellings may have been located in an upstairs gallery that was probably constructed over the porticoes of the atrium. This is indicated by the staircase that was constructed in a small room off the southeastern corner of the atrium. The same was suggested for the monastery in the northern church of Sobota (Shivta).

Refectory:

According to the excavator, room 107 may have been a refectory. This room is the largest room in the western complex (6.5 x 7 m) abutting the city wall on the south and west. It was spanned by a single arch 6 m in span, running E-W. The large span indicates a roof that was not of stone.

Bathhouse:

In the southwestern corner of the monastery's courtyard there was a small room L 109 (2.8 x 3 m) that apparently served as a bath.The room was well paved like the atrium. A stone bench runs along the northern wall and a step leads up to two small tubs each with a bench on the eastern side. The benches were faced with marble and the tubs were carefully lined with pinkish, water resistant plaster. Above the tubs there is a small basin from which the tubs were filled. The used water was drained by a lead pipe through the city wall.

Latrine/s:

A small space (L 114) located between the atrium and the city wall. The room was unpaved and there was a rectangular stone basin in it, with a perforation in the base. Part of the basin was built into the city wall and apparently served as a drain. Based on parallels (Horvat Hanni; Castellion; H. Hanni) this probably served as a latrine.

Burials:

A burial with a complete, articulated skeleton was unearthed in the northern aisle of the church.

Storage facilities:

The storeroom (L113) is an irregularly shaped room (4 x 4.5 m) located west of the baptistery, originally entered from the baptistery. In the southern part of the room there is a built platform, in the center of which were the remains of a stone basin (0.7 m diameter) perhaps where oil and wine or holy water were kept for the eucharist or where people washed before baptism.

Water installations:

A large cistern (5.5 and 5.75 E-W; 4.3 and 4.05 N-S; maximal depth 3.5 m) is situated beneath the atrium. The cistern was hewn in the rock, and supported with walls (due to the crumbly nature of the rock). The roof was supported by stone arches, its capacity is at least 82 m³. Gutters were found in all four corners of the atrium. They are in the form of perforated stone bowls from which water was conveyed into the cistern by channels running under the paving.

Small finds

Small finds:

Category	Description
Stone vessels	A basin 0.7 m in diameter

Comments, discussion and summary:

The church and monastery were destroyed sometime in the first half of the sixth century CE, about a century before the Arab conquest. The site was abandoned. Negev was not able to provide a precise date for the foundation of the monastery. If it was indeed founded only in the early sixth century, perhaps in the time of Justinian, this would imply that the monastery functioned for a very short period of time.

Detailed description

Dimensions:

Size class
Small

Structure

Materials applied (walls):

Limestone

Materials applied (roofing):

tiles

timber

Components

Enclosing wall

Gate/s:

Tower/s

Courtyard/s

Monastery church:

Church type	Diakonikon	Link to church section	Church location
basilical	Diakonikon		Ground floor

Baptismal font

Refectory

Dwelling type:

cells

Number of stories:

Bathhouse

Latrines

Tombs type:

Cist tomb

Water installations:

Cisterns

Channels

Gutters

Water capacity (minimal) (cubic m):

Inscribed crosses

Architectural evolution

Phase 1
Abandonment

General outline:

In the first phase the church was constructed, the monastery probably being founded later. The first construction of the church is dated by Negev to the fourth century. According to him, The dating is parallel to that of the North church of Shivta. After the town was surrounded by a wall in the sixth century, probably due to deterioration in security, the monastic complex surrounding the basilica was added. This is based on the irregular shape of all the rooms surrounding the church which quite clearly made use of the space formed between the external walls of the basilica and the perimeter wall of the town. Minor changes were made throughout the rest of the existence of the complex. These could not be dated with precision.

Dating material:

Sixth century. Based on architectural considerations. No material of use for dating was found. Negev suggested (based on the many changes) foundation of the church in mid fourth century, changes and additions in the time of Justinian (all parallel to the north church at Shivta. In Sobota the church was completely reconstructed, implying basic changes in the performance of the cult of martyrs. Negev also based his dating on the edict of Theodosius II in 428 concerning crosses on the floor.

Phase date

Century:

6th c.

Within century:

First half

Dating material:

All the finds were dated no later than the Byzantine period. Signs of violent destruction were discerned in the burnt beams uncovered in the tower.

Phase date

Century:

6th c.

Within century:

Mid

Iconoclastic evidence

Iconoclastic evidence:

Post Arab conquest history:

Abandoned

Post conquest history comments:

Negev was not able to provide a precise date for the foundation of the monastery. If it was indeed founded only in the early sixth century, perhaps in the time of Justinian, this would imply that the monastery functioned for only a handful of years before its destruction, as he proposed, in the first half of the 6th century. According to Negev, the church and by default, the monastery, were destroyed in the sixth century, long before the Arab conquest. Schick, on the other hand, proposed that the church went out of use at some point in the Early Islamic period (Schick 1995: 401).