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‘Atiqot 56 (2007)
ISBN 2948-040X
A Farmstead from the End of the Iron Age and Installations at the Foot of Khirbat Abu Shawan
(Hebrew, pp. 25–44; English Summary, pp. 71*–74*)
Yuval Baruch
Keywords: Jerusalem hinterland, agriculture, oil production, limekiln, winepress
The site is located on a slope c. 100 m southwest of Khirbat Abu Shawan, near the village of El-Wallaja. The excavation exposed the remains of a farmstead, extending across an area of two to three dunams. Two buildings were unearthed, delimited by an enclosure wall. An installation and a partially-hewn cave were discovered as well. The site was dated to the end of the Iron Age based on the pottery found within the buildings and the installations. One building (200) comprised a large percentage of holemouth jars, and it probably served as a workshop and storeroom for agricultural produce. The other building (300) included mainly tableware, indicating its use as a dwelling. This farmstead is one of a series of farmsteads that operated around Jerusalem during the end of the Iron Age, attesting to the intensive agricultural activity in the periphery of Jerusalem at that time.