The country’s antiquities administration said on Tuesday that archaeologists have discovered an opulent 1,200-year-old home in Israel’s desert south that provides a rare window into life for affluent inhabitants of the Negev area.
According to the authorities, the find near the Bedouin settlement of Rahat is from the 8th or 9th century, during the early Islamic era.
The opulent house has four wings with many rooms for its tenants, and it is constructed around a courtyard.
A marble corridor with stone flooring and ornate wall decorations may be seen in one opulent area. Archaeologists also discovered broken pieces of decorative glass serving utensils.
Archaeologists were shocked to find stone underground vaults underneath the courtyard; they think these vaults were utilised to store goods at a lower temperature away from the intense desert heat.
The vaults seem to be properly built and strong enough to permit subterranean movement between them.
A cistern with cold drinking water is accessible to occupants through an aperture from the vaulted chambers.
According to experts, the owners of the property most certainly had prosperous lives and had enough to share.
According to a statement from the archaeologists in charge of the excavations, “the opulent estate and the very magnificent subterranean vaults are proof of the owners’ riches.”
Oren Shmueli, Elena Kogan-Zehavi, and Noe D. Michael concurred, saying, “Their high position and riches enabled them to create a spectacular palace that functioned as a dwelling and for entertainment.”
Such estates had been “completely unknown in the Negev until today,” Michael told AFP, adding that “we think whomever resided here was some local lord.”
On Thursday, the public is expected to be allowed access to the site near the Bedouin community of Rahat.
A unusual mosque from the same time period that Israeli archaeologists uncovered in June is near to the estate.
According to the Israel Antiquities Authority, the location had housed a few dozen Muslim places of worship.
In the early part of the seventh century, the Muslims conquered the area.
Michael said, “It is intended that this location would be maintained together with other findings like the mosque once we complete the excavation (of the home).”
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