Archaeological Excavations at Khirbet Beit Bassa, Palestine
Archaeological Excavations at Khirbet Beit Bassa, Palestine
Date
2018-12-04
Authors
Abu Aemar, Ibrahim Mohammad
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Publisher
American Schools of Oriental Research and is available on the University of Chicago Press
Abstract
K hirbet Beit Bassa is located on a hilltop that rises to
670 m above sea level and overlooks the surrounding
terrain in all directions. The total area of the site is
about 40,000 m2 (ten acres) and lies about 3 km southeast
of Bethlehem’s historic town center. The site is surrounded
by a number of other archaeological sites, including Khirbet
Hendaza, Khirbet Beit Ta’mar, the Herodion, the traditional
Shepherd’s Fields, and the Church of the Nativity (fig. 1).
The occupation history of the vicinity of the khirbet is dated
to the Early Bronze Age through the Ottoman period. The
khirbet is distinguished by its relatively large size and raised
elevation. The site was most likely a small village during the
Roman period, flourished during the Byzantine era, then
declined during the Islamic period. We believe that khirbet
Beit Bassa reached its zenith during the Byzantium era is due
to its very close location to at least three major archaeological
sites and features that played a distinguished role in the early
Christian, namely, Siyer al-Ghanam, Kanisat al Rawat, and
the Church of the Nativity.
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Citation
Ibrahim Mohammad Abu Aemar. “Archaeological Excavations at Khirbet Beit Bassa, Palestine.” Near Eastern Archaeology, vol. 81, no. 4, 2018, pp. 250–258. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.5615/neareastarch.81.4.0250.