Naḥal Qidron - Monastery

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Monastery name, type, category

Site Name:

Naḥal Qidron

Monastery name:

Monastery

Monastery type:

Cenobium

Monastery category:

Isolated in the countryside

Location

Coordinates, ITM system:

22,470.00

62,860.00

Coordinates, ICS system:

17,470.00

12,860.00

Geographical region:

Judean Desert fringes

Provincial affiliation:

Palaestina I

Bishopric:

Jerusalem

Topographical location:

Slope of a hill on the eastern slopes of the Judean hills.

Distance from nearest bishop-seat:

4 km (Jerusalem)

Distance from nearest settlement:

4 km (Jerusalem)

Distance from Roman roads:

ca. 3 km east of the road connecting Jerusalem and Bethlehem.

Source of knowledge

Archaeological remains

Surveyed site

Surveyors:

Name	Date
Kloner	2000

Excavated site

Excavators:

Name	Date
Barbé and Zelinger	2005

Bibliograpy:

Kloner, A., 2000	142
Barbé, H. and Zelinger, Y., 2005
Barbé, H. H. and Zelinger, Y., 2006	289-95
Magen, Y. and Kagan, E. D., 2012	75-77
Segal, I., 2017	107-109
Zelinger, Y. and Barbé, H., 2017	49-82

Abbreviation for Journals and Series

State of certainty:

Archaeologicaly definitive

General description

State of preservation/which parts were uncovered:

The site consists of a rectangular complex of rooms surrounding several courtyards. The southern courtyard was in a poor state of preservation but rooms with industrial installations were recognized around it.

Illustrative material:

Illustrative_material

Photos

Nahal Qidron- segment of mosaic pavement from the church (Magen and Kagan 2012 II: 76, Fig. 204.2).

Figures

Nahal Qidron- general plan of the site (Magen and Kagan 2012 II: 76, Fig. 204.1).

General description

Enclosing walls:

The monastery (25 x 36 m) was enclosed with massive walls on four sides. The walls were faced with ashalrs on both sides, with a fill of earth and small stones and mortar. The walls were preserved to a maximum height 1.2 m (western wall) but mostly less than 0.6 m..

Gate/s:

The excavators assumed that the entrance gate was along the northern section of the western wall.

Courtyards:

The complex was constructed around two distinct courtyards with separate functions. The northern part surrounded a courtyard (13 x 16 m) and contained a church, a burial complex and a cistern. The courtyard was surrounded by columns, some of which had rock-cut bases.

The southern courtyard served in a domestic capacity, with the dwellings of the monks apparently on a second storey. The floor of the courtyard was also hewn in the bedrock.

The courtyard, south of the church was surrounded by columns, some of which had rock-cut bases.

Churche/s:

The church is a single nave chapel, located in the northern part of the monastery. It is entered from a doorway in the southern part of the atrium's eastern wall. The chapel (12.5 x 7.5 m) has an inscribed apse of which only the hewn foundations remain. The apse may have been raised one step from the floor of the nave. A depression in the floor of the apse may have held a reliquary.

Remains of a colorful mosaic pavement were uncovered in the prayer hall, depicting a deer and an octopus.

A doorway (ca. 2 m wide) in the southern wall of the chapel led to the northern courtyard.

Dwellings:

The excavators suggest that the dwellings of the monks were on the second storey, surrounding the southern courtyard.

Burials:

Three entrances to three burial systems were found in the center of the northern courtyard. All three entrances had been covered with stone slabs that were level with the courtyard. The earliest tomb was reached via a staircase. Three burial troughs were found, two with hewn arcosolia, the third, a plain cist tomb that has a Maltese cross painted in red (partially effaced). A second system is located to the south, reached by stairs. Its façade may have had a cross that was removed at a later period. The burial chamber has three tombs. Human remains in a poor state of preservation were found in situ. The third system is reached through a rectangular shaft. Four trough tombs were found. A cavity in the northwestern corner contained animal and human remains. These were dated to a later period. In the eastern part of the courtyard, a staircase leads to a subterranean room outside the precinct. Eight trough tombs were found, apparently this system was not robbed. The tombs were not excavated but a preliminary examination showed that the interred were buried in layers with their clothing.

According to the excavators, the northern burial complex contained the remains of the most esteemed monks of the monastery.

A second burial complex (eastern complex) was only partially excavated. The numerous interments may indicate that this complex was the burial place of the ordinary monks of the monastery (as opposed to the northern complex).

Baking oven:

A circular installation in the southern part of the monastery. The excavators' opinion is that this was the location of the monastery's bread oven.

Stable:

A hall, tentatively identified as a stable, was located off the southern courtyard.

Water installations:

A cistern was located in the courtyard, it is still in use. Near the northern wall of the complex, a plastered channel leads to a cistern that was not excavated.

A square, plastered water installation (1.2 x 1.5 m), located near the staircase of the eastern tomb, was used to collect the water from the roof of the cloister. From this installation, a well-built, plastered channel bypassed the entrance to the eastern tomb's staircase and drained the water through a rock-cut passage below the monastery's eastern channel likely fed another cistern, discerned to the east of our excavation. Several meters to the south, another channel (LI088) led toward the same cistern.

A drain along the outside of the monastery's western wall collected rainwater from the roof and led it to a cistern located outside the precinct, beyond the limits of the excavation.

Agricultural and industrial installations:

The southern part of the monastery contained several installations, only some were identifiable:

An industrial oil press.

The base of a flour mill was also found. The rounded base supported a donkey driven mill and three plastered installations were probably used for storage of grain and/or milled flour.

In the southeastern corner of the monastery some installations were were uncovered, the function of which is unclear. However, they clearly had to do with liquids, as the installation involves basins and channels. The excavators suggested that it was associated with laundry, sewage or kitchen activities.

Small finds

Small finds:

Category	Description
Pottery	Bowls, basins, cooking pots, jugs, storage jars. Dated to 4th -8th centuries, the majority dated to 6th-7th centuries.
Oil lamps	All Byzantine of the "Candlestick" type.
Bones	Human bones in the burials
Leather	Fragments of footwear
Other	Roof tiles
Stone vessels	Two marble liturgical vessels and fragment of marbel chancel screen -near flour mill; colonnette leg of altar table;

Detailed description

Dimensions:

Total area (sqm)	Size class
1,500	Medium

Structure

Materials applied (walls):

Limestone

Components

Enclosing wall

Courtyard/s

Monastery church:

Church type	Diakonikon	Link to church section	Church location
single nave			Ground floor

Number of stories:

Stable

Tombs type:

Cist tomb

Burial chamber

Arcosolium

Agricultural installations:

oil press\es [=o/p]

Water installations:

Cisterns

Channels

Painted plaster

Architectural evolution

Phase 1
Abandonment

General outline:

The monastery was established as a closed rectangular unit encompassed by walls. Rooms were constructed along the walls, a church, some industrial installations and a system of tombs were also uncovered.

Phase date

Century:

5th-6th c.

Phase date

Century:

7th c?

Post conquest history comments:

Resettlement of the site was not reported by the excavators. The tombs had been robbed in antiquity. A painted cross on the wall of one of the tombs had been rubbed out by horizontal and vertical scratches. The skeleton of a child was found, possibly dating to the Mameluk period.