18698 - Giv‘ot Bar (Naḥal Peḥar) - Chapel

Church Name, type, function

Site Name:

Giv‘ot Bar (Naḥal Peḥar)

Identification:

According to the chapel inscription the monastery was named Betomorsy or Betomarsy.

Church name:

Chapel

Functional Type:

Monastic

Church type:

Chapel

Location

Coordinates, ITM system:

126,977.00

84,995.00

Coordinates, ICS system:

176,977.00

584,995.00

Geographical region:

North-Western Negev

Topographical location:

On the southwestern bank of Naḥal Peḥar, within the precincts of the settlement of Giv‘ot Bar, in its second traffic circle; some 2.5km to the south of Rahat.

Provincial affiliation:

Palaestina I

Bishopric:

Gaza

Source of knowledge

Epigraphy:

HideEpigraphy

Text number	Summary
1	Invocation of the Lord on behalf of the coenobium of Betomorsy, at the eastern edge of the mosaic carpet of the chapel.
2	Epitaph of John painted on a building block, found in the debris near the entrance of the chapel.
3	Epitaph of Cyriacus the hegumen painted on a building block, found in the debris near the entrance of the chapel, March/April 647.

Archaeological remains

Excavated site

Excavators:

Name	Date
Paran	2006

Bibliograpy:

Paran, N. S., 2009

Abbreviation for Journals and Series

General description

State of preservation/which parts were uncovered:

Walls preserved to an elevation of some 1.3m. The chapel comprises of R1, R3 and R4 of the monastery - the three rooms in the northwestern part of the monastery. The largest (3.7 x 6.2 m), middle one (R1), accessed from the courtyard, served as an assembly hall. The eastern held the apse and the western and smallest, seems to have served as a store room.

Description

Illustrative material:

Illustrative_material

Photos

Mosaic floor in the assembly hall, Paran 2009.

Figures

Monastery, general plan; the chapel comprises of R1, R3 and R4. Paran 2009.

Atrium:

The courtyard - R5 in the plan (5 x 9 m in dimensions), to the south of the chapel, held a staircase leading to a second story. A room to the south of the courtyard (R2) had a cupboard.

Façade and entries:

A doorway in the center of the southern wall of R1 led from the courtyard to the assembly hall. Inscriptions 2 and 3 (see Epigraphy section), written on the plaster of two masonry blocks, were found near this doorway.

Lateral walls:

Lime plastered.

Nave:

The assembly hall (R1) was mosaic paved, with a decorative carpet in its eastern part; its walls were coated in lime plaster. The mosaic depicted five medallions in two rows formed by vine trellis emerging from an amphora flanked by two peacocks. To the east of this carpet was a three lines Greek inscription, and to its east, in front of the doorway leading to the eastern room, was depicted a crux gemata. The doorway leading to the western room (2.0 x 3.7 m), had well-dressed jumbs, permitting a good lock. A second doorway, in its eastern wall, led to the eastern room (3.0 x 3.2 m), stone paved and ending in an apse (2.8 m in diameter) on its east.

Bema, chancel screen and apse:

The apse was paved with a white mosaic and its walls were lime plastered, like those of the assembly hall. The area to its west (in R3), was paved by flagstones. In the seam between the apse mosaic and the flagstone pavement, two notches into which chancel screens were inserted were preserved. Fragments of one of the screens, made of soft chalk, were found in the collapse.

Small finds

Small finds:

Category	Description
Pottery	Pottery dated to the 6th-7th c.
Metal objects	thirty iron nails and a bronze hook used to suspend a lamp.

Small finds illustrative material:

Illustrative_material

Detailed description

Structure

Orientation:

Facing east

Materials applied (walls):

Limestone

Brick

Materials applied (roofing):

timber

Atrium:

Yes

East end:

Internal apse

Altar remains:

no remains

Apse elevation:

Flush with the bema

Burial loci

Burials loci:

The flagstones in R3 to the west of the plaster paved apse covered two tombs, each measuring 0.7 × 1.7 m. Hence the chapel served also as a burial chapel. Two epitaphs were written on the plaster of two stone blocks uncovered near the entrance to the assembly hall. One of them (inscription 3), is dated to 647 CE.

Architectural Evolution

Dating material	Phase no.	Century	Within century
Pottery dated to the 6th-7th c.	Phase 1	6th-7th c.
Latest pottery dated to 7th c. Inscription 3 - an epitaph found near the entrance to the chapel, is dated to 647, indicating that the church was still in use at that time.	Abandonment	7th c.	Mid

Post Arab conquest history:

Abandoned

Post conquest history comments:

The paucity of finds and absence of signs of violence point to a peaceful desertion following the Arab conquest.