Ha-Bonim - South Church
Church Name, type, function
Site Name:
Ha-Bonim
Church name:
South Church
Functional Type:
Parochial
Church type:
Trefoil
Location
Coordinates, ITM system:
193.72
726.33
Coordinates, ICS system:
143.71
1,226.30
Geographical region:
Coastal plain
Topographical location:
On a Kurkar ridge
Provincial affiliation:
Palaestina I
Bishopric:
Dora
Source of knowledge
General description
State of preservation/which parts were uncovered:
A large flat platform was discovered and above it a very big church was built. The church extended across a very large area, which, due to the limitations of the excavation, its size could not be estimated. Only part of its eastern end was excavated and probe trenches were dug in its center; its western end was not exposed.
Description
Illustrative material:
Lateral walls:
Two walls that enclosed the nave from the north and south were exposed in the center part of the church.
Transept Ends:
In the first phase the church head was trefoil in shape, with three apses that faced south, east and north. The walls of the apses (height 1.8 m, thickness 2 m) were built of ashlars. In the second phase the three apses were no longer used and their entrance was blocked. A new apse was built in their place at the eastern end of the nave, c. 13 m west of the ancient center apse.
Crypt: See in the Detailed Description, crypt
Small finds
Small finds illustrative material:
Detailed description
Structure
Orientation:
Facing east
Materials applied (walls):
Limestone
Materials applied (roofing):
tiles
timber
Water cistern:
Yes
Colonnades / Arcades:
Colonnade
East end:
External apses, round
Church Head/Chevet:
tri-apsidal
Central Apse Category:
apsidal
Ambo:
No
Apse elevation:
Flush with the bema
Apse shape:
Hemispherical
Synthronon:
No
Crypt
Accessibility and description:
A crypt was discovered between the western end of the northern apse and the western end of the southern apse. The crypt was entered from the west by way of a rectangular rock-cutting, covered with stone beams. A stone slab in the opening to the burial chamber was meant to block the entrance, but it was slightly shifted due to plundering in antiquity. Marks on the upper part of the stone slab indicate it was raised by means of a lever. The burial chamber was entirely hewn, and a single vault was cut in each of the chamber’s southern, eastern and northern sides. Each vault was decorated with three painted crosses, a large one in the center and two smaller ones on the sides. In each of the vaults was a burial trough covered with large stone beams, some of which were moved or broken when the tomb was looted.
Function:
Burial crypt.
Architectural Evolution
| Phase name (as published) | General outline | Phase no. | Century | Within century |
|---|---|---|---|---|
The first phase | Very large trefoil church with a crypt under its floor. | Phase 1 | 5th c. | |
The second phase | Mono-apsidal church with an internal (?) apse. | Phase 2 | 6th c. | |
Field walls that dated to the Early Islamic period were discovered west of the church. The walls, built after the church was destroyed, were apparently meant to mark the boundaries of cultivation plots.
| Abandonment | 7th c. | Second half |
Post Arab conquest history:
Abandoned