A colorful, ancient find

VIVA SARAH PRESS ISRAEL21C

Thanks to plans for a new highway in the northern Negev area, an Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) salvage excavation has uncovered a monastery dating to the Byzantine period. The structure, measuring 20 by 35 metres, is divided into halls built along an east-west axis.

“It seems that this monastery, located near the Byzantine settlement of Horbat Hur, is one monastery in a series of monasteries situated alongside a road that linked Transjordan with the Be’er Sheva Valley,” said Daniel Varga, excavation director on behalf of IAA.

Archeologists uncovered a prayer hall paved with a mosaic “carpet,” featuring a pattern of leaves in blue, red, yellow and green. They also found a colorful mosaic on the dining room floor depicting floral motifs, geometric decorations, amphorae, baskets and a pair of birds.

Another floor mosaic includes four Greek dedicatory inscriptions denoting the names of the monastery’s abbots: Eliyahu, Nonus, Solomon and Ilrion, and the dates when the pavements were constructed in the different halls. These inscriptions aided archeologists in dating the monastery to the second half of the sixth century CE.

IAA, together with the Netivei Israel Co., the Hura municipality and Wadi Attir Association, plan on relocating the monastery, including its mosaics, to the Wadi Attir agricultural-tourism project adjacent to Hura.

Viva Sarah Press is an associate editor and writer at ISRAEL21c. She has extensive experience in reporting/editing in the print, online and broadcast fields. She has jumped out of a plane, ducked rockets and been attacked by a baboon all in the name of a good story. Her work has been published by international media outlets including Israel Television, CNN, Reuters, the Jerusalem Post and Time Out.

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