Tell es Sa'wa - Monastery

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Monastery name, type, category

Site Name:

Tell es Sa'wa

Monastery name:

Monastery

Monastery type:

Cenobium

Monastery category:

Isolated in the countryside

Location

Coordinates, ITM system:

19,906.00

57,611.00

Coordinates, ICS system:

14,906.00

7,611.00

Geographical region:

Beer Sheba Valley

Provincial affiliation:

Palaestina I

Bishopric:

Eleutheropolis

Topographical location:

On a low hill on the borderline between the southern Hebron hills and the Beer Sheba valley.

Distance from nearest bishop-seat:

ca. 34 km (Elusa)

Distance from nearest settlement:

ca. 15 km (Beer Sheba)

Distance from Roman roads:

ca. 8 km west of the road leading from Hebron to the eastern Negev.

Source of knowledge

Archaeological remains

Surveyed site

Surveyors:

Name	Date
Woolley and Lawrence	1914-15
Meshel, Ben Yosef and Dror	1987
Govrin	1991

Bibliograpy:

Woolley, C. L. and Lawrence, T. E., 1914-1915	47
Ovadiah, A., 1970	179
Bagatti, B., 1983
Meshel, Z., Ben Yosef, S. and Dror, U., 1987	103
Govrin, Y., 1991	88-89
Tsafrir, Y., Di Segni, L. and Green, J., 1994	245
Figueras, P., 1995	445-46
Bagatti, B., 2002	112
Magen, Y. and Kagan, E. D., 2012	308

Abbreviation for Journals and Series

Discussion:

Hirschfeld is of the opinion that the site at Tell es-Sawa does not constitute a monastery but a complex farmhouse, although his reasons for this opinion were not specified (Hirschfeld 1997: note 68).

State of certainty:

Archaeologicaly definitive

General description

Illustrative material:

Illustrative_material

Figures

Tell es Sa'wa- general plan of the monastery (Magen and Kagan 2012 II: 308, no. 362).

General description

Courtyards:

The complex is of an irregular shape (ca. 53 x 40 m; ca. 2,120 m²). It is built around a central courtyard with a row of rooms (52 x 10 m) along its western side. North of the courtyard there is another wing which is divided into two rooms, one measuring 9 x 4 m. A second courtyard (30 x 25 m) is located south of the complex. This courtyard is enclosed by a wall and is external to the main structure.

Churche/s:

The church is located on the eastern side of the courtyard. To its south is a large rectangular room (14 x 10 m) adjoined on its southwestern and northwestern sides by square rooms (4 x 4 m each). The church was surveyed in the early twentieth century. The survey described the church as basilical with a single apse and paved in a white mosaic.

Dwellings:

A row of rooms was located on the western side of the courtyard. Two additional rooms were found on the eastern side. The function of the rooms was not determined.

Water installations:

Two cisterns were observed. One is located in the center of the central courtyard (measurements were not provided), the second cistern is in the southern part of the external courtyard.

Small finds

Small finds:

Category
Pottery

Detailed description

Dimensions:

Total area (sqm)	Size class
2,120	Large

Structure

Materials applied (walls):

Limestone

Components

Enclosing wall

Courtyard/s

Monastery church:

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

Water installations:

Cisterns

Architectural evolution

Phase 1
Abandonment

General outline:

No excavation has provided specific dating. The site is dated generally to the Byzantine period.

Phase date

Century:

Early Christian / Byzantine

Phase date

Century:

Unknown

Within century:

First half