Khirbet el-Qutt

Khirbet el-Qutt

חורבת אל קוט (in Hebrew)
Shown within the West Bank
Location	Israel
Region	Samaria
Coordinates	32°06′20″N 35°24′28″E
Grid position	Israel Ref. 22295/66332
Type	Settlement, Mikveh, Rock-cut tombs
Part of	Herodium, Hasmonean desert fortresses
Area	2 ha (4.9 acres)
Height	650 m
History
Periods	Iron age, Hasmonean kingdom, Herodian kingdom, province of Judaea, Byzantine, Persian
Cultures	Second Temple period
Site notes
Condition	Ruined
Ownership	Public
Public access	Yes

Khirbet el-Qutt is a archeological site featuring the remains of a Jewish settlement located about one km north of the settlement of Ma'ale Levona.

The site is located on an extended hill-top 650m above sea-level and site covers an area of about 20 Dunams, overlooking the Lebonah valley, the road passing through it and the ancient “Lebonah Ascent”.

Suggested identification

Ze'ev Safrai suggested identifying it with the village of Lakitia, mentioned in the Midrash as one of the locations at which Hadrian garrisoned Roman troops at the end of the Bar-Kokhba Revolt:

"Hadrian settled three garrisons; one at Hamata, one at the village of Lakitia,

and one at Bet El in Judea. If they (the soldiers) defect from the first place,

it will still be held by the second one; if they defect from the second place, it

will still be held by the third place".

Safrai’s suggestion fits both the geographical location and the archaeological data, and most specifically the placement on the main highway leading from Judea to the Galilee. But despite this complementary data, there is not enough information to definitively confirm the suggestion.

Survey history

The site was first surveyed at the end of the 1960s by Z. Kallai and his team. Some fifteen years later, Israel Finkelstein and his team visited the site. Another survey was conducted in the 1990s by E. Maharian of the Staff Officer of the Civil Administration of Judea and Samaria. In 2007, E. Klein surveyed the site and in October-November 2014 Raviv, Har-Even, Tavger in the framework of the “New South Samaria Survey.” conducted another extensive survey at the site.

Archeological findings

The early surveys at the site discovered mainly remains of walls, cisterns, caves and pottery from the Early Bronze Age, Iron Age II, Roman and Byzantine periods. The latter surveys expanded the time periods and included finding from the Persian and the early Muslim periods. The latest two surveys, first Klein then Raviv, Har-Even &Tavger discovered new findings the include buildings, mikveh, cisterns, caves, quarries, agricultural installations, hiding complex and rock-cut burial-caves of the settlement.

Archeological analysis

Based on archaeological surveys of the site they show it was inhabited almost continuously from the Iron Age I until the early Muslim period, including the Hellenistic and Roman periods. This is due to its close location to the main roadway and its proximity to the fertile Lebonah valley, drew inhabitants to it during many different periods.

The settlement reached its peak during the Early Roman period. The large number of shreds, the cisterns lined with grey plaster, and the necropolis consisting primarily of loculus-tombs, show evidence of the relatively extensive size of the settlement during the Early Roman period. It is evident from the presence of ritual miqva’ot, remains of ossuaries and the hiding complex, this was a Jewish settlement from the end of the Second Temple period until the Bar-Kokhba Revolt. The settlement became a large fortified village during the late Hellenistic period as the Hasmoneans Dynesty ruled Sameria and incorporation of the ‘Aqraba toparchy into Judea.

This assumption is based on Eusebius’ reference to nearby Shiloh as a village in the ‘Akraba district much the same as the fate of the remainder of Judaea. ‘Aqraba fell to the Romans during the Great Revolt. Both the archaeological data and specifically Wadi Muraba’at documents are evidence of continuous Jewish presence in ‘Aqraba up until the Bar-Kokhba Revolt.