Tel Hadid in the Byzantine period: Preliminary survey

Introduction

The Lod Valley flourished during the Byzantine period. Lydda (Lod) was an important city on a national scale (Schwartz 1991: 168; 2015: 115-117), which like many cities in the southern Levant underwent many changes. Many of the inhabitants of the city converted to Christianity and the city became a center of worship dedicated to St. George. The city fell to the Persians in 614, but in 629 was recaptured, briefly, by the Byzantine Empire. In 638, the area was again conquered, this time by the Arabs, who made Lydda the administrative center of the province of Filastin (Palestine) until 716, when nearby Ramla became the new capital (Torgeë 2017).
Against this background, we wish to present the remains from the Byzantine period in Tel Hadid, which is located about 5 km east of the city of Lod (Israel Grid 1955/6523; Fig. 1). First, we will briefly present the site. Second, we will review the architectural remains from the Byzantine period and the various finds, some of which were partially published in preliminary reports, and are now discussed for the first time. Lastly, we will end with a synthesis of the findings and their significance for understanding the settlement in Tel Hadid. This article is based on Ruthy Lewis’ MA thesis, written under the supervision of Dr. Ruth Jackson-Tal and Dr. Ido Koch (Lewis 2020). We thank Adi Perry, Naama Cohen, Nurit Rosenfeld and Itamar Ben-Ezra, who prepared the figures accompanying the article.

Tel Hadid: Location, historical overview, and history of research

Al-Haditha/Tel Hadid (Fig. 2) is a multi-layered site perched on a tall hill from which one can see kilometers into the distance. The area of the site is about 40 hectares total, and in its center is an upper tell measuring about 4 hectares. Most of the site is now covered with olive groves planted by the residents of the village of al-Haditha. The olive groves are divided by stone fences and hedges of prickly pears (sabra) which grow wild. Throughout the site hundreds of rock-hewn installations, which were used for various agricultural activities, were documented.
The name Hadid (and its later versions in Aramaic, Greek, and Arabic) appears in written sources
from the Persian period. It is first mentioned as one of the settlements inhabited by the Judaeans returning from Babylon (Ezra 2:33; Nehemiah 7:37, 11:24).On the Jewish population of the Lod Valley during the Persian period, see Lipschits 1997. According to the Book of Maccabees I (12:28; 13:13), Shimon the Hasmonean fortified Hadid during the revolt against Seleucid rule, and Josephus Flavius reports (The Jewish Wars IV 9a) that Vespasian fortified Hadid while his armies surrounded the rebels in the Jerusalem area. We may learn about Hadid between the revolts from its mention as the place of origin of R. Yaqim, a third-generation Tanna: “R. Joshua and R. Yaqim of Hadid testified concerning a jar of ashes of a sin-offering which was put over a creeping thing, that they were unclean” (Mishnah, ‘Eduyot 7:5); and its appearance in a list of the cities fortified in the days of Joshua son of Nun (Mishna, ‘Arakhin 9:6).On this list and its dating, see Zissu 2006, Ben-Eliyahu 2016.

In the 4th century, Eusebius identified Hadid (Greek: Ἀδιθά or Aδιθα) with Adithaim, mentioned in the book of Joshua (15:26) in the land of the tribe of Judah, and similarly the Madaba Map shows the village west of Jerusalem with the caption “Adithaim which is now Aditha.” This identification – part of the “rediscovery” of the Holy Land in the Byzantine period and the identification of many biblical sites with contemporaneous localities – was accepted not only by the scholars of the period, but also by locals, members of the young Christian community, who searched for their biblical roots. However, the text of the book of Joshua clearly located Adithaim in the area of the Shephelah, and more precisely – to the vicinity of the Valley of Elah. This confusion seems to have been created due to the phonetic similarity between the names. Centuries passed until the currently accepted identification was proposed: Isaac ha-Kohen ben Moses, a Jewish scholar better known by his nickname Ashtori ha-Parchi, traveled for seven years across the Holy Land in the early 14th century and documented his findings regarding the local topography and toponymy in his book Kaftor va-Perach. In this book he wrote that the village of Hadita, located on a round hill two hours’ walk east of the Lod Valley, is the biblical Hadid. Written sources from the Ottoman period (such as the Palestine Exploration Fund Survey; Condar and Kitchener 1882: 297, 322) and from the British Mandate (population censuses) tell of the village of al-Haditha, its territory and economy, until its destruction in 1948. In 1949, a kibbutz called Tehiya was established at the foot of the tell, which after a while was renamed Hadid (Meitlis 2011), but its members were forced to leave their homes about a year and a half later. Today the tell is within the JNF’s Ben Shemen Forest.
Tel Hadid is mentioned only a few times in modern research (Gophna and Beit-Arieh 1997: Site 170) since the accidental discovery of the mosaic floor from the Byzantine period by the villagers and its excavation by J. Ory in 1940 (Avi-Yonah 1972). Most of the information about the settlement at Tel Hadid was uncovered by an extensive probe excavation in 1995. This was followed by a large salvage excavation from 1996 to 1998, led by E. Brand and A. Feldstein, as part of the infrastructure works for the construction of the Trans-Israel Highway, in the course of which the site received its current form. The eastern and western slopes were excavated thoroughly, part of them were removed and tunnel openings were dug through them. The remains unearthed in this excavation indicate human activity in the Middle Bronze Age, and from the Iron Age to modern times (Brand 1996; 1998). The research community has dealt mainly with the remains of the settlement from the late Iron Age, which included residential buildings, dozens of olive oil extraction facilities, a rich ceramic complex and two cuneiform tablets, which indicate the presence of an exiled community settled on the site by the Assyrian Empire, thus replacing the Israelite community that preceded them (Na’aman and Zadok 2000). Later salvage excavations revealed evidence of human activity from those periods (Torgeë 2016; Yannai 2002; Nagorski and Yannai 2016). A new expedition began excavating the site in 2018 – a joint project sponsored by the Institute of Archeology at Tel Aviv University and the Baptist Theological Seminary of New Orleans.The project is led by Ido Koch (Tel Aviv University) and James Parker (Baptist Theological Seminary of New Orleans). The main goal of the project is to examine the history of human presence at Tel Hadid, from its beginnings until the middle of the 20th century. During the first three excavation seasons (2018-2020), the focus was on remains from the Late Iron Age, the Hellenistic period, and the Byzantine period (Koch et al. 2020; Koch et al. 2021).

Architectural remains

The remains from the Byzantine period at Tel Hadid were exposed east and west of the upper tell (Fig. 3). As stated above, the first discovery was a mosaic floor that belonged to a church or chapel. The floor was excavated and removed in 1940 by Jacob Ory, on behalf of the Department of Antiquities of the British Mandate. The team of the salvage excavations conducted in the 1990s uncovered throughout the lower hill several winepresses (Areas C8 and D5), clusters of tombs (Area C7), and agricultural terraces (Area D16), in which pottery, glassware, and other objects were found. The current expedition investigated, over the last two years, a large winepress, which was exposed at the foot of the northwestern slope of the upper tell (Area CC).

The mosaic, which was exposed by Ory, is located about 200 m east of the upper mound. In the past it was part of the floor of a room that was founded on bedrock. The walls of the room were found in ruins except for one section, which survived to a height of 10 cm. The reconstructed dimensions of the room: 4.25 x 5.25 m (Avi-Yonah 1972: 118). The mosaic (Fig. 4), now preserved in the National Maritime Museum in Haifa, survived in the northeast corner of the room. The surviving section is delimited by a frame, showing a manned ship carrying vessels towards a city called “Egypt” (Aegyptos), as well as figures of waterfowl and fish, a figure of a man and next to him a bull, and lotus flowers.For discussions of the Nilotic scenes in Byzantine-period church mosaics, see Avi-Yonah 1972: 122, Hachlili 2009: 106-109. In the center of the scene are Greek inscriptions referring to a house of worship, each of which begins with the symbol of the cross. Based on the scene and the inscriptions, the mosaic was dated to the second half of the 6th century (Avi-Yonah 1973: 1972: 120–122; Hachlili 2009: 101; Ovadiah and De Silva 1984: 217).

The salvage excavations led by Brand and revealed Byzantine remains throughout the lower tier, west of the upper mound.The authors are currently preparing a full publication of the Byzantine remains exposed during the salvage excavations. Among the remains are 17 vaulted (arcosolia) tombs and agricultural installations. The vaulted tombs were hewn in bedrock, in the center of the lower hill (Area C7; Fig. 3), and were partially excavated (Fig. 5). Fragments of glass vessels, pottery, and metal items, including a cross, were found in the tombs. The findings date the burials to the late 4th century CE, and mainly the 5th and 6th centuries (Brand 1996: 14-17). Vaulted graves are common throughout the region and a burial cave with three burials from the same period was discovered in the excavations of Ben Shemen, south of Tel Hadid (Shmueli et al. 2013).

The agricultural installations at the site were documented mainly west and northwest of the upper tell. These include winepresses, agricultural terraces, and other hewn installations (see Fig. 3). Below we will present two winepresses that were exposed in the excavations led by Brand, followed by a third winepress excavated by our expedition.

1. A large wine-making complex was uncovered in Area D5 (F1200; not published in the preliminary reports). The winepress is partially hewn in bedrock and is partly built of a combination of stone fills, stone walls, plastered surfaces and white mosaic floors, whose preservation condition is poor. Surviving parts of the winepress include a treading floor that is rectangular in shape and has a mosaic floor. In the western portion of the complex was a small mosaic floor, and a clay pipe, documented under the floor, which connected it to a white mosaic-paved collecting vat. South of the treading floor was a low stone wall and beyond it another mosaic-paved surface. In addition to these components, a hewn pit
   located directly north of the collection basin was exposed, containing glass fragments, pottery, and metal items, which indicate that in the last stage of its use, garbage was thrown into it.
2. Winepress C8 was partially excavated and briefly described by Brand (1996: 4; Fig. 6). According to the description, the winepress included a treading floor paved with white mosaic and several niches covered with plaster, in which potsherds from the Byzantine period were incorporated. The niches were covered with a hewn ceiling shaped like a conch.
3. An additional wine production complex (F4502), located northwest of the upper tell (Area CC area; Fig. 6), has been investigated by the current expedition since the 2019 season. The excavations of Area CC has been supervised by R. Lewis with the assistance of A. Etya (2019, 2020), and H. Maynard and R. Farhni (2022). This complex, partly hewn in bedrock and partly built, includes a hewn round treading floor 7 m in diameter, with a square screw base in its center. The surface was leveled with a stone fill superimposed by a layer of plaster, layer of pottery sherds dating to the Byzantine period, and above another layer of plaster on which a white mosaic floor was placed. In addition, plaster sections survived in which the remains of a mosaic floor were documented. Openings in the northern part of the treading floor lead to a shallow, constructed and mosaic-paved intermediate basin, and from there to a round collection pit, 2 m in diameter, with a settling pit at the bottom. A rock-hewn channel connects the base of the screw in the center of the treading floor to the collection pit. The treading floor is surrounded by storage compartments hewn in the rock above it. Several of the compartments had a plastered basin with a carved channel leading to it. In addition to these main components, a number of other elements were identified, including hewn and constructed vats.

The three installations described above indicate the agricultural nature of the settlement and large-scale wine production, during the Byzantine period. To this must be added the extent of the agricultural terraces documented at the lower hill (Fig. 3: Area D16). In the excavation of the soil fill behind the terraces many potsherds from Iron Age II and the Byzantine period, were documented, as well as glass fragments from the Late Roman period and the Byzantine period. Based on the ceramic finds, it was argued (Brand 1998: 5) that the date of construction of the terrace walls was in the Byzantine period, at the earliest. Although the terraces at Tel Hadid were probably built during the Byzantine period, studies from recent years have shown that dating terraces based on pottery or construction methods is not accurate enough, because it is not possible to determine when the fill was brought to a certain point, and because terraces are often reused over long periods (Avni et al. 2013: 335; Gadot et al. 2016: 397).

Findings

Below we will review the pottery, glassware and other finds collected in the excavation.
The few pottery vessels found in situ are decorated lamps found within the rock-hewn tombs. One of them was found ornamented with a cross. Another type of lamp, discovered inside a terrace fill on the western slope (Area D16), has a loop handle, adorned with a simple cross (Fig. 7: 1) and is dated to the 6th and 7th centuries (Sussman 2017: 420; Magness 1993: 251, 254, type 3D no. 4). To these should be added the pottery vessels found in the hewn pit (F1244) mentioned above, which include a number of Gaza and bag-shaped jars (Fig. 7: 2-3), jugs (including a Fine Byzantine Ware Jug; Fig. 7: 4), bowls, amphorae (LRA 1; Fig. 7:5) and basins. These vessels are dated to the 5th to 7th centuries, some to the beginning of the 8th century.

The glass vessels were found from various contexts throughout the tel during the salvage excavations. Over 2,000 fragments have been identified, of which about 200 are indicative. Only a few have been published by Brand in connection to the graves from the Roman and Byzantine periods (Brand 1996: Fig. 20:13), and the rest of the assemblage was recently published by Lewis (2020). The assemblage from the Byzantine period consists of types common throughout the southern Levant, including bowls (Fig. 8: 1), wine glasses (Fig. 8: 2–4), bottles (Fig. 8: 5–8), oil lamps (Fig. 8: 9), and a number of window fragments (Fig. 8: 10-11), indicating the existence of an extensive public building, such as a church or bath house. It is possible that the window fragments originated from a private structure but this is unlikely. The glass vessels, like the pottery date mostly from the 5th to the 7th centuries, with a few dating to the 8th century. The assemblage shows continuity in certain types and decoration techniques (mainly bowls, jugs, and bottles) from the late Roman period, but it also shows the trends typical of the Byzantine period: bowls become less common, wine glasses replace drinking cups, and plenty of oil lamps.

This is the place to note a number of glass vessels from other periods, which contribute to an initial reconstruction of the settlement history at Tel Hadid. One is a rare chalice from the Early Roman period (Fig. 9: 1). The vessel was either imported or prepared locally by someone will the knowledge to create such a high quality item (Isings 1957: 50-54). The second vessel is a dropper from the Roman period (Fig. 8: 2) which has only a few parallels in the region. Droppers were used to store expensive liquids, such as quality perfumes (Yisraeli 2003: 237-242). The third vessel is a glass fragment decorated with a metallic luster (stain painted) (Fig. 9: 3) from the Early Islamic period (see Winter 2019: 71). The vessel was found in the upper layers of the accumulation, on top of the F1200 complex. The fragment helps date the cessation of wine production in this complex, on which see below.

In addition to the glass finds, threemore items are worthy of note. One is a small silver cross, found in a rock-hewn tomb from the group mentioned above (Fig. 10: 1), which indicates that the person buried there belonged to the Christian community in “Adida.” In connection to this, we note two marble fragments that were found outside the D5\F1200 complex, near the entrance to an unexcavated cave. The locus cards for this cave were not found, although the list of baskets indicates that the items were found on the surface. The items themselves are stored at Tel Aviv University, and have never been published nor mentioned in any of the reports. One is flat and the other has a stepped profile and a wide frame with two engraved grooves (Fig. 10: 2–3). The dimensions and design of both fragments is similar but not identical. It is thus possible that they are either both part of a single original item or that they belong to two separate objects of the same nature. We suggest that these marble fragments belonged to a chancel screen or altar table. A number of marble decorations were discovered at a Byzantine-period monastery at Khirbet es-Suyyagh in Beit Shemesh (Taxel 2009: 165-169, Figs. 6.1-6.3). These decorations included a fragment very similar to the marble item from Tel Hadid, which was not conclusively identified, despite the assumption that it belonged to an altar table (ibid., Fig. 5: 6.1). Items of this type were usually made of marble or local limestone, and decorated with a rectangular frame or floral motifs (Magen 2015: 241). Examples of them are known from almost every site that contained a church or chapel. The pillars and chancel screens formed the partition that separated the church nave from the altar area, where the priest conducted the mass (ibid.). It should be emphasized, however, that marble tables were used not only as sacred furniture in churches, but also in monastic refectories (Taxel 2009: 166; Popović 1998: 301).

Discussion

In this article, data and findings attesting to the settlement of Tel Hadid in the Byzantine period were compiled and presented for the first time. These data indicate that it was an agricultural settlement, which in our opinion was a satellite village of the municipal center in Lod. The main complexes are the remains of the church located east of the upper tell, and the rock-hewn tombs and the winepresses northwest of it. The various finds, especially the objects adorned with crosses, indicate that this was a Christian settlement. The findings described indicate the potential of the study of the Byzantine period at the site – a study that we expect to continue in the coming years. But already now we wish to present three aspects of “Adida” and its inhabitants in the Byzantine period.

First, the site was inhabited throughout the Byzantine period and at the beginning of the Early Islamic period. The scarcity of finds (glass or other) from the Early Islamic period seems to indicate that activity at Tel Hadid ceased or decreased during the 8th century. As in many sites in the southern Levant, see Winter 2019: 197 for more examples from the Jerusalem area. For a discussion of the transition from the Late Byzantine period to the Early Muslim period, see Avni 2014. In Avni’s opinion (ibid: 103, 344; see also Taxel 2018), settlement continuity can be observed during the Muslim period, and despite the fact that the number of sites throughout the southern Levant decreased, some continued to flourish. Second, we cautiously suggest that the glass and marble fragments found not in situ, as remnants of secondary or tertiary use, originated in the house of worship exposed by Ory in the east of the site, or, alternatively, that there was another public structure in the west of the site. In ancient times many marble parts were looted to be reused for similar purposes at other sites or as raw material for the construction of new buildings, such as mosques and other public buildings, but also as tombstones for graves (Magen 2015: 241). Thus, a marble pillar that originally belonged to the church was reused as a tombstone for a Mamluk grave in nearby Kafr ‘Ana (Taxel 2007: 88). The custom of reusing architectural elements (spolia) in the construction of new buildings, public or private, is well known in antiquity (Taxel 2018: 156; Fisher 2016). It should be added that the marble items were found a few meters from the hewn pit (F1244) which contained a large number of glass fragments, including window fragments, oil lamps, and wine glasses. The accumulation of these items may indicate that they originated in the same structure. Marble parts were also found in the monastery at Khirbet es-Suyyagh next to a relatively small glass assemblage. This assemblage contained several window fragments which were found in the vicinity of the church and therefore Taxel assumed that they originated in the church (Taxel 2009: 148, 151, Fig. 4.2: 3). As a result of the distribution of these marble components throughout the site, Taxel concluded that they were taken for domestic purposes in the post-monastic stage, but originally belonged to the church. A building that has glass windows and marble furniture could certainly have been a church, chapel, or monastic building. The possibility that the marble slabs and window fragments came from the mosaic-floor church, which Ory exposed east of the upper tell cannot be ruled out, but the long distance raises questions about the motivation of the destroyers of the church to move the items so far, just to throw them into the cistern.

The agricultural nature of Tel Hadid in the Byzantine period is obvious, given the various types
of installations. During the Byzantine period the wine industry reached its peak and various types of installations were established throughout the southern Levant. The three winepresses discussed above emphasize the prominance of the wine industry in Tel Hadid, during the Byzantine period, and may even indicate the production of surpluses. Based on the findings of the stain-painted glass fragment—a technique that did not appear before the 8th century—which was discovered in the accumulation on top of the F1200, the cessation of use of the winepress can be estimated to sometime in the Early Islamic period.
The winepresses at Tel Hadid, like winepresses throughout the southern Levant, were abandoned during this period, often converted into garbage pits, or used for other purposes. There are many examples of Byzantine-period winepresses that fell out of use during the early Muslim period, such as in nearby Lod (Weinberger 2011) and in Tel Qasileh (Ayalon 2009a: 196). Some argue that the abandonment of the winepresses was the result of processes of Islamization and the decline of the wine industry throughout the Levant (Ayalon 2009b: 161; Tal and Taxel 2012: 505; Taxel 2013: 388), while Avni (2014: 206-207) claims this to be a result of the decline in international trade and wine exports in the 7th century. Moreover, Avni (ibid.) suggests that most Christian communities continued to consume wine well into the early Islamic period.

Finally, we suggest seeing the remains from the Byzantine period at Tel Hadid in light of the broad regional context. During this period, dozens of large complex winepresses were established in the Lod Valley and in the Shephelah, as well as many other winepresses of other types (Abrotis 2015: 57 - 71). It should be added that monasteries were established on the roads leading to Jerusalem, in settlements and on the road itself, at sites such as H. Hani (northeast of Shoham), Mevo Modi’im, and Khirbet es-Suyyagh (Taxel 2008). Taxel (2008: 67-68) suggested that the economy of these monasteries was based on the sale of agricultural surpluses, oil, and wine, and providing services to pilgrims. In light of this, it is possible that the remains of the church or monastery and the large winepresses at Tel Hadid indicate that Adida can be considered part of the array of settlements that supported pilgrims coming to Jerusalem. In light of the data at our disposal, we are unable to determine whether the house of worship was part of a monastery or a church, and we hope that our research will yield further insights in the years to come.