An excavation report from the Israel Antiquities Authority reveals the discovery of a well-preserved Byzantine-period monastery and farmhouse at Naḥal Peḥar, within the modern settlement of Giv‘ot Bar, north of Beersheba.

According to excavator Nir-Shimshon Paran, “The monastery was well-preserved, attesting to the daily life of the monks in the Negev in the Byzantine period. It was paved with poorly executed mosaic floors, probably laid by the monks themselves.”

“Most of the finds in the monastery were uncovered on the floors, attesting to its orderly abandonment in the late Byzantine or beginning of the Umayyad period (sixth–seventh centuries CE),” Paran noted. “It is possible that the monastery was abandoned in the transition to the Early Islamic period due to a deterioration in the security situation in the region,” he notes.

The monastery complex included a chapel, dining room (refectory), kitchen, service wings, and a winepress. “The main building was made of thickened walls, lending it the appearance of a fortified structure,” according to the study.

The chapel held a unique mosaic: “In the center of the mosaic is a Maltese cross, and below it, within a frame, a three-line Greek inscription, mentioning the monastery’s name and the names of four monks who lived there.”

Adjacent rooms contained evidence of daily life. “A cone-shaped depression in the mosaic floor likely served to place a vessel,” Paran notes. Finds included pottery dated to 460–475 CE and a cooking pot from the end of the fifth to seventh centuries.

Two tombs were found in the stone-paved apse: “At the southern tomb’s eastern end was an engraved cross,” according to Paran. A collapsed chancel-screen post, bronze hook, chains, and glass lamps were recovered, suggesting the area was used for liturgical purposes.

A kitchen was identified by an “ash layer (0.1 m thick), indicating a cooking area” and work tables. “Below the table, the lower half of a storage jar was sunk into the floor, probably used as a ṭabun.”

The monastery also featured a wine production facility: “In the service wing’s northeastern section, a winepress treading floor (5.7 × 6.0 m) sloping to the south was discovered.” A plastered settling pit and a probable cistern were also excavated.

Inscriptions found include two epitaphs written in red-brown ink, confirming burial use.

South of the monastery, a Byzantine farmhouse was uncovered, featuring a rectangular watchtower with a window. Paran describes, “On the floor was a coin dated to the first half of the sixth century CE.”

“Both the monastery and farmhouse were one-period sites… it seems that both buildings were abandoned at the end of the Byzantine period (end of the sixth/early seventh century CE),” Paran notes. 

The findings were published in ‘Atiqot (Volume 116) by the Israel Antiquities Authority.

The article was written with the assistance of a news analysis system.