Khirbet Ghuraba

Khirbet Ghuraba
Khirbet Ghuraba is located in the West Bank
Khirbet Ghuraba
Shown within the West Bank
Alternative nameKhirbet Ghurabeh
LocationWest Bank
Coordinates32°02′37″N 35°14′29″E / 32.043729°N 35.241507°E / 32.043729; 35.241507
PAL172/161
Typeruin
Height796 m
Site notes
ConditionIn ruins

Khirbet Ghuraba[1] or Khurbet Ghurabeh[2] (Arabic: خربة غرابه, Hebrew: חורבת ר'ורבה) is an archaeological site located in the West Bank. The ruin is commonly identified with Garob, a place mentioned in the Talmud in connection with the story of Micha's Idol.[1][3] It is also identified with two sites from Crusader times.[1]

Archaeology

Sarcophagus in a Rock-cut tomb

Khirbet Ghuraba occupies the summit and western slope of a hill,[1] located 4 km west of Seilun, where ancient Shiloh was located.[3]

Presently the site is in a largely dismantled state but with the surviving remnants of walls constructed from ashlar stones. Notable features include a 30-meter-long wall on the northern side, likely functioning as a revetment, alongside door jambs, rock-cut cellars, and cisterns.[1]

Adjacent to the site lies a burial cave containing a sarcophagus, while observations by Guérin note several columns. Kallai's documentation references an olive press within a cave and remnants of a large structure situated on the eastern perimeter of the ruins.[1]

The site was surveyed by Kallai in 1972, and again by Finkelstein et al. in 1982. Potsherds found here mostly date from the Iron Age (I-II), Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine period, with smaller numbers from the Middle Ages and the early Ottoman period. Most of the pottery collected from the site's center is from the Roman and Byzantine periods.[1]

History

Antiquity

Multiple scholars, including Conder and Kitchener, Klein, Kopp, and Safrai, have associated Khirbet Ghuraba with Garob or Gareb, a place referenced in the Talmud:[1][3]

"R. Nathan said: Garob to Shiloh is a distance of three mils, and the smoke of the altar and that of Micah's image intermingled" (b. Sanhedrin 103b).[3]

Reeg suggests Khirbet Ghuraba or an alternate, unnamed site as its potential location.[1] The findings from the Late Roman period further strengthen the identification with Garob.[3]

Crusader period

Röhricht posits this site as Gerable, a significant place during the Crusader period, although Beyer favors identifying it with Carrubia, another contemporaneous site.[1]

Arabic name

According to E. H. Palmer, the name Khurbet Ghurabeh means: "The ruin of the raven."[2]

Sources

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Finkelstein, Israel; Lederman, Zvi; Bunimovitz, Shlomo, eds. (1997). Highlands of Many Cultures: The Southern Samaria Survey, The Sites. Vol. 2. Tel Aviv: Institute of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University. pp. 614–615.
  2. ^ a b Palmer, 1881, p. 233
  3. ^ a b c d e Schwartz, Amichay; Ofir Shemesh, Abraham (2019). "The Cult in Shiloh during the Roman-Byzantine Period". Religions. 10 (11): 591. doi:10.3390/rel10110591. ISSN 2077-1444.