A site from the roman and Byzantine periods at Khirbat el-Burj (with contributions by Robert Kool and Moshe Sade)

The site is located at the foot of the Hebron Hills, one kilometer south of Tell Beit Mirsim. Two areas were excavated (Areas A and B). In Area A, a row of three rooms, possibly associated with a Roman bathhouse, was exposed. The artifacts recovered from the fills and the floors included tub uli, ceramic tiles and segments of mosaic panels, as well as fragments of pottery and glass vessels, and three coins. These finds date mostly to the Late Roman and early Byzantine periods (end of third-fifth centuries CE). In Area B, the remains of a plastered installation, partly built into a cave, were uncovered; they dated to the Chalcolithic period and Middle Bronze Age II. A large winepress was erected above the installation in the Early Roman period. A small structure, perhaps a watch-tower, was built atop the winepress, most likely in the Byzantine period. The entrance to a Byzantine-period pottery kiln (fifth-seventh centuries) was exposed south of the Early Roman winepress. East of the Early Roman winepress and the pottery kiln, some walls-possibly agricultural terraces-were exposed. Among the finds were pottery vessels, stone vessels-notably a fragment of a measuring cup, glass sherds and animal bones.