The Byzantine and Early Islamic settlement of Khirbat ... - web journal

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Marwan Abu Khalaf, Ibrahim Abu A‘mar, Salah Al-Houdalieh, Robert Hoylandern end of the hall culminates in a semi-circular apse, 4.5 m in diameter (fig. 17).The central part of thehall comprises a mortaredcobble surface (no.15 and fig. 18), whichmay have constituted afloor in its own right orhave formed the base forflagstones. In 2001 thisfloor continued furtherwestwards, but was thenremoved in the course oftheir excavation ofsquare O12 (see sectionon phasing below). Thisfloor is missing in theeastern part of the basilicalhall, removed bymodern ploughing.Above this floor is acompact reddish brownsilty clay layer (nos. 51-52), about 0.1 m thick,containing angular limestonefragments (fig. 18).This forms the levelingdeposit for the cobbledmake-up layer found inthe rest of the hall,which in turn forms thebedding for a mosaicfloor (see below) that wasstill largely in place when18. Leveling deposit between phase II and phase III floors of church area.19. East face of modern robber trench in south central part of church,showing rubble make-up above bedrock (foreground) and below phaseII floor of church (note flagstones top right = south aisle of church).al-Quds University began their excavations (square B3 and loci 7-8 in their numbering),but which has since been almost wholly robbed out bar a few scattered patchesin the side aisles. A modern robber trench in the south central part of the hall clearlyshows that the mortared cobble floor rests upon a rubble make-up layer (nos. 48-49), composed of a yellowy brown silty clay deposit with frequent rough limestonehttp://www.webjournal.unior.it - (II) 2006 60ISSN 1827-8868
The Byzantine and Early Islamic settlement of Khirbat Shuwaykablocks, which itself lies directly on the bedrock (fig. 19). This was necessary becausethe bedrock varies between about 0.6 m and 1.8 m below the floor level of thechurch, descending towardsthe east. This is the reasonfor the north-south crosswalls either side of the basesof the apse, lending supportat a point where the bedrockdips sharply and preventingany movement inthe large mass of rubble requiredhere to provide alevel base for the floor ofthe church.Just south of the modernrobber trench in the southcentral part of the basilicalhall, in the southern outerwall of the church, thereappears to be a blocked-updoorway. A cut alongsidethe wall at this point, madein the course of the al-QudsUniversity excavations of2001 to examine the south-ern outer wall, apparentlyrevealed steps, now nolonger in place. On the out-side of the wall the footingsare very clear, with mortarbonding to the wall, whichsuggests there was a floorsurface here. Presumably20. View eastwards of corridor outside southern outer wall ofchurch from blocked-up doorway (top left) to tomb entrancethere was a corridor, arrived(bottom left), showing footings against wall.at by a door in the southernouter wall and down a stairway, and leading to the tomb of Paul (fig. 20), and per-to the nearby wine-making installation (see haps also, in the other direction, below).http://www.webjournal.unior.it - (II) 2006 61ISSN 1827-8868
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The Byzantine and Early Islamic settlement of Khirbat ... - web journal

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