Communication from R. Cohen. - Excavations, directed by R. Cohen behalf of the Antiquities Service,
were carried out from September to December 1966, at Mesad Yeruham (Qasr Rekhmeh), in the central Negev,
40 km south of Ber Sheva.
The site occupies approximately 100 dunams and, as E.H. Palmer already pointed out in 1870,
the remains of this installation “so scattered and so covered by the earth, that they appear
above ground ". In 1953, Prof. Nelson Glueck identified a large Nabataean installation and
the objects found on the surface depicted the Greek name of Alexander. While surveying the
site in 1965, the Israeli team came to the conclusion that this installation understood a several mounds
representing individual buildings which were part of a fort.
The excavations were mainly focused on two of these
Hills. On the first northern hill, we uncovered a
construction covering more than 800 m
2. It consisted of three blocks
of dwellings comprising, in total, twelve rooms connected by a courtyard
central. The walls were preserved to a height of 1.80 m. The
objects found on the floor of the rooms date from the 5th-6th centuries AD. and
include Byzantine pots, lamps, jars and coins.
On the central hill, the highest on the site, we have partially
cleared four buildings. A street, 2.70 m wide, divides this
together in two sectors east and west.
In the western sector, a building, which covers more than 500 m
2
consists of eighteen rooms arranged around a central courtyard.
The walls were preserved at a height of 2-3 m. A lintel,
decorated with rosettes, was among the rubble, near the entrance
of one of the rooms. Objects found on the floors of the rooms go back
in the 5th-6th centuries AD and include many ceramic objects: lamps, jugs, pots, jugs, jars and small
decorated bowls. Two Greek ostraca written in black ink are particularly interesting.
Two similar buildings, covering more than 950 m
3, were
cleared in the eastern sector. There, too, ceramics and
coins indicate the 5th-6th centuries AD. A lintel decorated with a
cross is of special interest.
In the southern part of the site, the remains of a Nabataean building were excavated.
Ceramic objects collected from the floors of the rooms
and court include many beautiful Nabataean sherds decorated and stamped.
Mesad Yeruham appears to have served as a guard post on the ancient
Avdat (Oboda) - Mamshit (Kurnub) trade route and its
existence is linked to the history of the Nabataeans and the great
Roman-Byzantine road in the Negev.
Mezad Yeruham on govmap.gov.il
