Ein Gedi – 2012 season: Halfi House

Preliminary report

Dr. Gideon Hadas

Director of Ein Gedi Oasis Excavations, Dead-Sea & Arava Science Center

In January 2012, members of the Ein Gedi Oasis Excavations started uncovering another new area inside the Ein Gedi National Park, adjacent to the ancient synagogue: the "Halfi House". The work this season took place under the auspices of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and was enabled by contributions from individuals, various funds and the Dead-Sea & Arava Science Center and the Israel Nature and Parks Authority.  Volunteers from abroad and Israel, most of whom were devoted veterans from former seasons, took part in the excavations. Additional volunteers came from the Ein Gedi field school, the National Park and Mechinat Melah Ha-Aretz from Ein Gedi.  Rahel Merhav was in charge of registration and camp affairs, surveying and drafting were handled by D. Porotzki, and pottery by Anna de Vincenz.

The "Halfi House" is the largest building in the Byzantine village of Ein Gedi.  Whereas the synagogue is about 255 square meters, we have already revealed 260 square meters in the "Halfi House" before reaching its northern wall.  The building plan is trapezoid and includes three areas:  a main courtyard, an eastern wing and a western wing.  The main entrance to the courtyard is in the south wall, facing the northern entrance to the synagogue.  From south to north, the three rooms in the eastern wing have been named the "Burnt Room", the "Stucco Room" and the "Pruning-Hook Room".  The two rooms in the western wing are the "Reservoir Room" and the "Asphalt Room".

Fallen, sun-dried mud bricks were found in the entire excavated area.  They had been used to build the walls of part of the first floor, and the second floor. The ceilings and roofs had been built of long palm-tree trunks laid width-wise, while rushes, covered by a thick layer of mud, were laid on top perpendicular to the trunks.  Thick, well-pressed mud plaster was used for floors, while the walls were plastered with a thinner plaster, sometimes with an addition of white lime grains. Among the relatively few stones found were several grinding stones made of basalt.

Here, as in all the other parts of the village, we found remains of three periods of occupation: the Roman period, the Byzantine period and the Mamluk period.  Only pottery shards and coins were found from the latter, since all the upper soil had been ploughed during land reclamation in the area in the 1950s.  There were relatively few finds this season. They included only pottery and glass shards, bones, many pieces of wood charcoal, bitumen and coins in every room.  The "Halfi House" was destroyed by a great fire, as were the other buildings in the village and the synagogue, in the middle of the 6th century.

We intend to complete revealing the "Halfi House" next season, with the large building attached to it and the alleys bordering it to the north and west.

First week

 Third week

Young volunteers