Ras et-Tawil - Monastery

Vertical tabs

Monastery name, type, category

Site Name:

Ras et-Tawil

Monastery name:

Monastery

Monastery type:

Cenobium

Monastery category:

Isolated in the countryside

Location

Coordinates, ITM system:

223.74

637.90

Coordinates, ICS system:

173.73

1,137.90

Geographical region:

Judean Desert fringes

Provincial affiliation:

Palaestina I

Bishopric:

Jerusalem

Topographical location:

Hill

Distance from nearest bishop-seat:

ca.5 km (Jerusalem)

Distance from nearest settlement:

ca. 5 km (Jerusalem)

Distance from Roman roads:

ca. 5 km south of the road leading from the Samarian hills to Jericho.

Source of knowledge

Archaeological remains

Surveyed site

Surveyors:

Name	Date
Conder and Kitchener	1871-1877
Gibson	1981
Kloner	2001

Excavated site

Excavators:

Name	Date
Gibson and Kloner	1981

Bibliograpy:

Conder, C. R. and Kitchener, H. H., 1883	124
Gibson, S., 1982	101-103
Gibson, S., 1982	154-55
Gibson, S. and Edelstein, G., 1985	139-55
Gibson, S., 1985-1986	69-73
Tsafrir, Y., Di Segni, L. and Green, J., 1994	86
Kloner, A., 2001	22
Magen, Y. and Kagan, E. D., 2012	292

Abbreviation for Journals and Series

Discussion:

The monastery uncovered at Ras et-Tawil is a fine example of a coenobium type monastery. It encompasses all the criteria that define a monastery of this type. The size of the built complex indicates a small number of resident monks (the excavators estimated between 10-15 monks) and the presence of the agricultural terraces and winepress attest to the main source of income of the community. The walled garden and the animal pens indicate that the monks produced vegetables and possibly some fruit and perhaps animal products that both supplemented their own diet and may have been sold as surplus.

State of certainty:

Archaeologicaly definitive

General description

State of preservation/which parts were uncovered:

The site was investigated fairly extensively, the chapel was excavated, its western side preserved but very little remaining of its apse and chancel.

Illustrative material:

Illustrative_material

Figures

Ras et Tawil- plan of the site (Gibson 1985-86: 70)

General description

Paths:

Remains of an ancient path leading to the site from the south were found. The path was bordered on each side by large stones.

Enclosing walls:

The monastery was surrounded by an enclosure wall (24 x 18 m). A perimeter wall, built of rubble (1-1.6 m thick) surrounded the whole complex including the monastery structure and all its industrial and agricultural installations.

Gate/s:

Entrance to the enclosure (through the perimeter wall) was on the south.

The entrance way to the monastery structure was paved with stone flags, a room, presumably the gatekeeper's room connected the entrance with the courtyard. A capital belonging to an offering table was found on the stone pavement and a fragment of chancel screen was found in the gatekeeper's room.

Courtyards:

Two large courtyards were identified in the excavation.

Churche/s:

The chapel is located in the north of the complex, built over a partially hewn cave. The chapel had an apse at its eastern end. The walls were plastered, some of the fragments showed signs of paint, probably from murals on the upper part. Fragments of glass panes found in the debris point to the existence of glazed windows in the chapel. The floor was paved with a colorful mosaic, two panels with geometric designs survived. The chapel had a gabled and tiled roof.

Dwellings:

Subsidiary rooms - five rooms were identified. The walls were of undressed or partially dressed stone, their inner surface plastered with a white lime plaster. The floors were either earthen or rock-cut while the entrance was paved in large stone flags. The small rooms on the west of the chapel were probably used as storage and living quarters. The excavator suggests that one of the rooms may have been used for ablution purposes.

Storage facilities:

(See dwellings). A storage chamber was found east of the winepress.

Cave/s:

Underneath the chapel is a rock-cut cave, access to which was from the east, outside the chapel, via a broad staircase cut in the rock. A cut shaft connected the chapel with the cave. The excavators suggest that the cave may have served as a hermitage before the foundation of the monastery.

Kitchen:

One of the rooms located on the western side apparently served as a kitchen. The room had an improvised fireplace in the plaster floor and an installation connected with a stone slab covered channel.

Baking oven:

Beyond the northeast corner of the building complex, the remains of a large round oven were found. It was partially rock-cut and partially built. A fire pit and an arched stoke hole were found in the east wall of the oven. The oven would have been covered with a domed roof with a vent to allow the smoke to escape. The excavators surmise that it served as a bread oven and possibly for other cooking puposes.

Stable:

Just inside the perimeter walls were two enclosures which may have served as animal pens or stables.

Water installations:

The cistern was located southwest of the winepress down the slope. It is of an irregular plan and plastered with a reddish plaster, typical of the Byzantine period. It could hold up to 96 m³ of water. It was fed by two channels.

Garden:

Near the cistern, an area enclosed by walls probably served as a kitchen garden. An extensive system of agricultural terraces was found on the north slope of the hill.

Agricultural and industrial installations:

A winepress on the north slope was partially rock-hewn and partially built. It included a treading floor paved in a coarse white mosaic, surrounded by walls covered in reddish plaster. The treading floor had a socket for a press mechanism. A vat (4 m³) was fed from the press by a channel, a basin and a storage chamber east of the press were also part of the complex. North of the chapel is an installation which may have been a kiln of some sort. It consists of two parts: a rock-cut area with sherds firmly set in a yellow substance and a deep, round built furnace which has a small arched window in its eastern wall. Within the debris of the furnace were found a shattered storage jar, a cooking pot, and a large fragment of a glass window pane. A limekiln was found outside the entrance of the outer perimeter wall. Two human skeletons were found in it, apparently belonging to beduins of a later period.

Small finds

Small finds:

Category	Description
Glass	Fragments of window panes indicate that the windows of the church were glazed.
Coins	A cache of 206 bronze coins, many of which were of Egyptian origin, the latest of which were from the third quarter of the 8th century C.E.

Detailed description

Dimensions:

Total area (sqm)	Size class
432	Small

Structure

Materials applied (walls):

Limestone

Materials applied (roofing):

tiles

Components

Enclosing wall

Border marks

Gate/s:

Courtyard/s

Monastery church:

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

Dwelling type:

cells

Kitchen

Baking oven

Stable

Built paths

Garden

Agricultural installations:

wine press\es [=w/p]

Terraces [=t]

Water installations:

Cisterns

Water capacity (minimal) (cubic m):

Painted plaster

Architectural evolution

Phase 1
Phase 2
Abandonment

Phase name (as published):

Phase one

General outline:

The site includes a chapel, five subsidiary rooms which probably served as service rooms and living quarters, two hallways, two large courtyards, an oven, a winepress, an enclosed garden, a cistern and agricultural terraces.

Dating material:

Late fifth or early sixth century CE, based on the finds.

Phase date

Century:

5th-6th c.

Phase name (as published):

Phase two

General outline:

Some structural changes were made and some of the floors were raised.

Dating material:

Based on the architecture.

Phase date

Century:

6th-7th c.

General outline:

Last quarter of the eighth century.

Dating material:

A large cache of 206 bronze coins, many of which were of Egyptian origin, the latest of which were from the third quarter of the 8^th century CE.

Phase date

Century:

8th c.

Within century:

Second half

Post Arab conquest history:

Still in use

Post conquest history comments:

According to the excavators, the monastery was "re-used" in the Abbasid period. It is not clear if it was used in a monastic capacity or otherwise. The site was abandoned in the late eighth century CE and was later robbed of most of its stones.