Evidence of a Late Byzantine Period Earthquake and a Monastic Stable at 'Avedat (Oboda)

The 2012 excavations at 'Avedat revealed important evidence regarding the effects of earthquakes on the Byzantine-period occupation in Areas A and B and the use of a cave on the southern slope of the site by a monastic community in Area D. The author previously uncovered evidence of a destructive seismic event at the site that occurred in the early fifth century CE in the Roman/Byzantine Quarter, directly outside the middle Byzantine town wall east of the acropolis (Erickson-Gini 2010:90-95). Substantiation of this particular event may be inferred by the construction of heavy revetment walls along the southern side of the temenos, i.e., the western part of the acropolis, as well as the construction of smaller revetments against private houses such as that of Area B. However, the excavations appear to provide the first definitive testimony of earthquake damage and subsequent rebuilding in a stratigraphical context. 'Avedat met its final devastation at the end of the late Byzantine period, postdating the latest epitaph found in the South Church (617 CE), dating to the first half of the seventh century CE. The most dramatic testimony of earthquake damage was in Area B, in rooms that had been added to the northern exterior of an earlier building, presumably following damage by an earlier earthquake in the early fifth century CE. The rooms appear to have been attached to the earlier building next to a heavy revetment wall located to the east. This building is situated in close proximity to the South Church and the discovery of part of a marble paten in the pantry in Room 2 raises the possibility that the building was occupied by church personnel. Western Room 1 in Area B appears to have been roofed with heavy stone slabs supported by arches. The heavy collapse remained in situ on the eastern side of the room but further excavation on the western side revealed stone archers bearing incised, red-painted decoration. Room 2 seems to have been kind of a sunken open courtyard, in front of the main entrance into the structure, accessed by means of stairs leading down from the northeastern corner, opposite a baking oven. A number of bag-shaped storage jars found sunken into the earthen floor of the room probably served to store grain for grinding and baking. A similar baking oven, also located in the corner of an open courtyard, was uncovered by the author in Room 38 in the Roman/Byzantine Quarter in 'Avedat (Erickson-Gini 2010:94). Noteworthy is the mentioning of a baking oven and courtyard in a sale contract between a civilian and a soldier, dated c. 566/7 CE, in the Nizzana archive (Colt 1962:259). Unusual is the presence of a pantry in the southeastern corner of the courtyard near the wide entrance into the main building. This small space was used to store cooking and other vessels, including a glass bottle (Fig. 51:2), that were probably placed on wooden shelves. An unusual find in the pantry was part of a marble paten with faded black ink patterns of crosses and circles (Fig. 49). The ceramic and glass vessels in the pantry and the rest of the courtyard, including the latest form of a Gaza wine jar (Fig. 46:9), point to a late Byzantine date in the first half of the seventh century CE. However, there were no organic finds or coins that could have provided a more precise date for the destruction of the rooms. The Dipinti Cave, located on the southern slope below the acropolis in Area D, completes the picture of the late Byzantine occupation at the site. The extant wall in front of the cave apparently dates to the Roman period, based on the fragment of a molded Judean Southern Lamp (Fig. 44:17) and a glass fragment (Fig. 51:1), both produced during the Roman period. Red-painted Christian motifs, such as crosses, were added to the early wall. It seems that this wall too underwent structural damage, probably due to the early fifth-century CE earthquake. After this event, the interior of the wall was repaired, and a window was blocked. The motifs discovered on the Dipinti Wall and in the cave interior, particularly on the eastern wall, deep inside the cave, point to its use by a monastic community. Figueras (1995:434) discussed the existence of monastic communities in 'Avedat in the South Church and the structure in front of the Cave of the Saints. The winepresses situated in proximity to both the South Church and the Cave of the Saints deserve our attention. The use of the Dipinti Cave by such a community may have been encouraged by the presence of the large cistern of an earlier (Roman?) date located on the tier just above and behind the Dipinti Cave. Additionally, access to walled gardens, fields and a large winepress located below the cave on the plain to the south of 'Avedat would have also attracted the community. Layers of organic material (animal manure) outside the cave indicate that the rooms in front of the Dipinti Wall served for stabling animals. Stabling animals in close proximity to dwellings was customary in the region among the poorer segments of the population and continued up until modern times (Canaan 1933:35, 70). Epigraphic evidence from earlier excavations in 'Avedat show that donkeys and camels were regularly used to bring produce from the fields (Erickson-Gini 2012:53, Fig. 5). The position of the cave and its external rooms well-suited the commanding of the plain below and, among other things, may have been an indication of ownership. According to Canaan, it was customary in this region for low-lying fields to belong to those occupying higher ground (Canaan 1933:53); the higher location within the protected walls of the Byzantine town allowed the inhabitants to easily observe and guard the fields during harvest. The earthquake that destroyed the site at the end of the late Byzantine period, presumably in the first half of the seventh century CE, appears to have destroyed a room of the cave in front of the Dipinti Wall. Extant walls c. 10 m south of the Dipinti Wall apparently belong to the same structure that incorporated the Dipinti Cave. In the Early Islamic (Abbasid) period, visitors who frequented the cave, probably because of the cistern, left debris on the ruins of the collapsed bedrock shelf fronting the Dipinti Wall. Also found in the debris above the collapse were finds from the Late Ottoman and British Mandate periods, among them pieces of Arabic- and English-language newspapers. Unlike many red-painted dipinti in the 'Avedat caves, those on the Dipinti Wall are particularly well-preserved due to the cave's location on the south-slope facing, thereby ensuring minimum exposure to sunlight.