Khirbat Umm Burj was a
Palestinian Arab village in the
Hebron Subdistrict, sometimes designated in modern maps as Burgin.[6] Its ruins are today located within the borders of
Israel. It occupied an extensive site, stretching about 30
dunams (7.4 acres) on the crest of a hill, rising some 430 metres (1,410 ft) above sea level, and commanding a good prospect of the surrounding region. It was depopulated during the
1948 Arab–Israeli War on October 28, 1948, during the third stage of
Operation Yo'av under the command of
Yigal Allon. The site is located 17 km northwest of
Hebron.
History
The site was occupied from the
Iron Age. A large ancient
necropolis was here, including a church or synagogue, residential buildings and numerous agricultural installations.[7] Israeli archaeologists, Amir Ganor and
Boaz Zissu, think that Umm Burj may be a corruption of the 1st-century Jewish village, Kefar Bish, a view earlier rejected by
Klein who said that Kefar Bish still bears its namesake in the nearby ruin of Khirbet al-Bis.[8][9] A
Jewish inscription, possibly dating from the
Bar Kokhba revolt, has been found in a hiding complex at the site; it mentions a "Shelamzion daughter of...".[10]
In the late 19th century, extensive Christian remains were noted in the area surrounding Umm Burj.[11] Finnish scholar, Aapeli Saarisalo, visited the site of Umm Burj in the early 20th-century, and described its ruins as being of Byzantine and Arab origin.[12]
Late Ottoman period
In 1838 Um Burj was noted as village, located in the area between the mountains and
Gaza, but subject to the government of
el-Khulil.[13]
In 1863,
Victor Guérin passed north of Khirbat Umm Burj, and described the village as being on a mountain, dominating the surroundings.[14]
An
Ottoman village list from about 1870 found that um-burdsch had a population of 150, in 25 houses, though the population count included men, only.[15][16]
French
orientalist and archaeologist,
Charles Clermont-Ganneau, visited the site in 1874 where he noticed a
well situated nearby, called Bîr Hârûn, surmounted with a rude structure, near which were troughs hollowed out in large stone blocks.[17]
In 1883, the
PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described Umm Burj as: "A ruined village, with a central tower; apparently not ancient; caves and
cisterns round it, and a well".[18]Khalidi believed that the SWP assumption that the tower was not ancient might have been wrong.[19]
The village was settled in the 19th century by the
Al-Husayni family, who purchased the land, that was initially proposed for purchase by Jews.[20]
British Mandate period
In the
1931 census of Palestine, Umm Burj and Sanabra, listed in the sub-district of Hebron, had a joint population of 119 Muslims, in a total of 26 houses.[21]
In the
1945 statistics it had a population of 140 Muslims,[2] with a total of 13,083
dunums of land.[3] Of this, 28 dunums were irrigated or used for plantations, 3,546 were for cereal,[22] while 15 dunams were built-up (urban) areas.[23]
The villagers used to obtain drinking water from three wells on the northern outskirts of the village.[19]
The
moshav of
Nehusha was established in 1955 on land that had belonged to the village, west of the village site,[25] but collapsed in 1968. It was re-established in 1981.
Archaeology
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adding to it. (April 2019)
In the years 1995–2012, archaeological fieldwork was conducted by a team of archaeologists at Khirbet Umm Burj on behalf of the
Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), among whom were Boaz Zissu and Amir Golan, et al., where they uncovered at the site two Byzantine churches, and a Jewish inscription incised on a doorjamb of an underground room in a hiding tunnel system.[26]
Gallery
Khirbat Umm Burj
Tunnel at Hurvat Burgin (Khirbat Umm Burj)
Cave and pit in Umm Burj
Old structure of house
General view of remaining walls at Khirbat Umm Burj
Mosaic in ruined Byzantine Church at Khirbat Umm Burj
Staircase leading down to a cavern
General view
Open roof of cavern (Hurvat Burgin)
Plastered pool from Ottoman period at Khirbat Umm Burj
^Boaz Zissu and Amir Ganor, Survey and Excavations at Ḥorbat Burgin in the Judean Shephelah: Burial Caves, Hiding Complexes and Installations of the Second Temple and Byzantine Periods, ʿAtiqot (publication of the Israel Antiquities Authority), Issue 58 (2008), p. 63; Zissu, Boaz (2008). "Survey and Excavations at Ḥorbat Burgin in the Judean Shephelah: Burial Caves, Hiding Complexes and Installations of the Second Temple and Byzantine Periods". 'Atiqot. 58 (58): 60–64.
JSTOR23464336.
^Samuel Klein, The Twenty-four City Councils in Judea (ארבע ועשרים בולאות שביהודה), Vienna 1933, p. 293 (Hebrew)
^Grossman, D. (1986). "Oscillations in the Rural Settlement of Samaria and Judaea in the Ottoman Period". in Shomron studies. Dar, S., Safrai, S., (eds). Tel Aviv: Hakibbutz Hameuchad Publishing House. p. 376