Har Homa C - Monastery

Vertical tabs

Monastery name, type, category

Site Name:

Har Homa C

Monastery name:

Monastery

Monastery type:

Cenobium

Monastery category:

Isolated in the countryside

Source of sacredness:

Founder's Tomb

Location

Coordinates, ITM system:

221,995.00

625,300.00

Coordinates, ICS system:

171,982.00

25,300.00

Geographical region:

Judean Desert fringes

Provincial affiliation:

Palaestina I

Bishopric:

Jerusalem

Topographical location:

Hill top

Distance from nearest bishop-seat:

ca. 6 km. (Jerusalem)

Distance from nearest settlement:

ca. 2.5 km (Bethlehem)

Distance from Roman roads:

ca. 2 km from the road connecting Jerusalem and Bethlehem

Source of knowledge

Archaeological remains

Surveyed site

Surveyors:

Name	Date
Kloner	2000

Excavated site

Excavators:

Name	Date
Zelinger	2012, 2013

Bibliograpy:

Abbreviation for Journals and Series

State of certainty:

Archaeologicaly definitive

General description

State of preservation/which parts were uncovered:

The monastery was almost completely excavated and found to be in a poor state of preservation. The southern wall that bounded the monastery was only partially preserved. Many of the stones had been robbed after the complex was abandoned.

Illustrative material:

Illustrative_material

Photos

Har Homa C- aerial view of the site (Zelinger and Barbe 2017)

Figures

Har Homa- plan of the monastery (Zelinger and Barbe 2017)

General description

Enclosing walls:

The monastery was enclosed in perimeter walls. The southern wall did not survive.

Gate/s:

The complex was entered via a single entrance located in the western part of the southern wall. Entrance was directly into the courtyard.

Courtyards:

The courtyard is rectangular (10 x 20 m), its floor rock hewn. A staircase lead from the courtyard to a hewn cave from which the crypt was accessed.

Churche/s:

The chapel did not survive as its floor had collaped into the crypt below. It was located in the northeastern part of the complex.

Dwellings:

The remains of a small room (2.3 × 3.2 m), which according to the excavator was probably used by the abbot were unearthed in the northwestern corner of the complex.

Refectory:

A rectangular hall (3.3 x 6.7 m) was located in the southwestern part of the complex. A doorway in its northern wall connected it with the courtyard and a second doorway led to the small vestibule separating it from the "abbot's room". A room (4.7 x 4.8 m), located north of the burial chamber, contained built benches along three of its walls. The excavator suggested this as a "Congregation hall".

Burials:

A room located between the chapel and the "Congregation hall" contained a tomb in its center. The tomb was rock-hewn and plastered, covered with four stone slabs. The tomb contained the skeleton of an adult male, perhaps the abbot. A second tomb was located in the crypt, it was unoccupied. The excavator suggested it to have been the tomb of the monastery's founder. The crypt (3.7 x 8.5 m) had a hewn apse and could be reached via a staircase in its north and the staircase from the courtyard.

Cave/s:

The cave that was reached from the courtyard was only partially excavated, its use is unknown, it may have served simply as a passageway to the crypt.

Water installations:

A large bell-shaped cistern (diam. 9 m, depth 4 m, ca. 113 m³) is located outside the western part of the northern wall. A channel drained water from the courtyard into a settling pit before it reached the cistern. The roof of the cistern had collapsed.

Agricultural and industrial installations:

Quarries that served as a source of construction material were found in the vicinity. A well-built winepress was constructed next to the eastern side of the monastery’s wall. The square treading floor (3.05 × 3.05 m) was paved with a coarse white mosaic, and drained into a plastered collecting vat (1.45 × 1.45, max. depth 2.2 m). A clay basin was embedded in the northeastern corner of the vat, to drain the remainder of the must. South of the collecting vat was a hewn circular vat (diam. 0.78 m, depth 1 m). A direct-pressure screw-press was installed in the vat to extract remaining juice from the grape skins which had been trodden. Terraces were noted in the earlier surveys.

Small finds

Small finds:

Category	Description
Pottery	Fragments dated to 6th-7th centuries.
Glass	Fragments of vessels.
Coins	Three gold coins dated to the 6th century were found in the vesibule, in a niche in the wall.

Comments, discussion and summary:

The excavator suggested that the room located west of the burial chamber served as a "Congregation hall" and the large hall located in the southwestern part of the monastery as a refectory. No second story was suggested although the massive robbery of stones may confound the issue. This monastery is a fairly small one with a total of ca. 500 m². It is possible that the hall with the benches may have served as a refectory while the large southwestern hall was actually a dormitory.

Detailed description

Dimensions:

Total area (sqm)	Size class
500	Small

Structure

Materials applied (walls):

Limestone

Components

Enclosing wall

Gate/s:

Courtyard/s

Monastery church:

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

Refectory

Dwelling type:

dormitory

cells

Tombs type:

Cist tomb

Burial chamber

Agricultural installations:

wine press\es [=w/p]

Terraces [=t]

Water installations:

Cisterns

Channels

Water capacity (minimal) (cubic m):

113

Architectural evolution

Phase 1
Abandonment

General outline:

The monastery was constructed as a single unite within a short time.

Phase date

Century:

6th c.

General outline:

The monastery was apparently abandoned in an orderly manner based on the relatively scarce artifacts and deliberately blocked doorways.

Phase date

Century:

7th-8th c.

Post Arab conquest history:

Abandoned