Byzantine Monastery Discovered in Desert of the Holy Land

Giv’ot Bar, Israel, March 26, 2025

Photo: jpost.com

Archaeologists have uncovered a well-preserved Byzantine-era monastery in the Negev, a desert region of southern Israel, near the Biblical town of Beersheba.

Remains of a farmhouse were also uncovered, which, together with the monastery, seem to have been abandoned in the late-6th or early-7th century, possibly due to the danger posed by the transition to the early Islamic period, reports the Jerusalem Post.

An excavation report from the Israel Antiquities Authority quotes the excavator Nir-Shimshon Paran: “The monastery was well-preserved, attesting to the daily life of the monks in the Negev in the Byzantine period. It was paved with poorly executed mosaic floors, probably laid by the monks themselves.”

“Most of the finds in the monastery were uncovered on the floors, attesting to its orderly abandonment in the late Byzantine or beginning of the Umayyad period (6th-7th centuries AD),” Paran noted.

The monastery, a fortified structure, included a chapel, trapeza, kitchen, service wings, and a winepress. In the center of the chapel is a mosaic of a Maltese cross, with a Greek inscription below it mentioning the name of the monastery and the names of its residents.

Two tombs were also found in the apse.

South of the monastery, archaeologists discovered a Byzantine-era farmhouse, which included a rectangular watchtower with a window. A coin dating to the first half of the sixth century AD was found on the floor there.

Both the monastery and farmhouse are believed to have been one-period sites.

Traces of ancient garden found under Holy SepulchreArchaeobotanical examination and pollen analysis of samples collected during excavations beneath the ancient basilica’s floor revealed evidence of olive trees and grapevines.