BIBLE HISTORY DAILY

Magnificent Samaritan Village Discovered

Excavations expose Samaritan prosperity and struggle

Salvage excavations in the village of Kafr Qasim, northeast of Tel Aviv, revealed the remains of a magnificent Samaritan village dating back 1,600 years or more. Inhabited from at least the fourth through seventh centuries, the village was initially wealthy and prosperous before giving way to a simpler agricultural estate following the Samaritan revolts against Christian rule in the fifth and sixth centuries. The contrast highlights the historical and economic changes that affected the often overlooked early Samaritan community.

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Samaritan Village Surfaces

Excavations at the archaeological site of Khirbet Kafr Hatta, modern Kafr Qasim, revealed the intriguing story of a Samaritan village. Work by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) revealed the remains of a village that lasted from at least the fourth through seventh centuries CE. “The size and splendor of the buildings discovered, the quality of their mosaic floors, and the impressive agricultural installations all point to the great wealth and prosperity of the local Samaritan community over the years,” said excavation directors Alla Nagorsky and Daniel Leahy Griswold in a statement.

Within one of the buildings, archaeologists uncovered a magnificent mosaic floor decorated with geometric patterns and rich vegetal imagery, including depictions of acanthus leaves, grapes, dates, watermelons, artichokes, and asparagus. Near the entrance to the room, the mosaic included a Greek inscription wishing luck upon the owner of the house. In other parts of the village, the team uncovered a large warehouse, an elaborate olive oil press, and a public ritual bath (mikveh).

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Across the site, the team identified areas where agricultural installations were built above earlier mosaic floors, and ornately crafted stone capitals and columns were incorporated into later walls. According to researchers, the large-scale agricultural nature of the village was a later evolution of the site, with the former luxury replaced with more utilitarian construction. This shift likely coincided with the Samaritan revolts of the fifth and sixth centuries, when the region’s Samaritan population rebelled against Byzantine rule, which had enacted numerous restrictive policies against non-Christian groups. But while other Samaritan villages were either abandoned or destroyed, life in Kafr Hatta continued. “This is a fascinating site, which displays the historical gamut between the days of prosperity and the decline of the Samaritan community,” said Nagorsky.

Although the IAA excavations only revealed buildings dating to the fourth century and later, historical sources suggest that the Samaritan village of Kafr Hatta was inhabited at least as far back as the first century. The early Christian writer Justin Martyr suggests that Menander, a Samaritan who founded one of the early Gnostic movements, was born in Kafr Hatta. Menander was a student of Simon Magus (or Simon the Sorcerer), who is recorded in Acts 8:9–24 as having clashed with the apostle Peter.

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