tower Complete

ID: 183

Building type: tower

Context:

monastery

Site:

Inscriptions:

281

Description:

Beneath the tower, a cave is present and can be reached by a set of constructed steps. At ground level, interior partition walls divide the building into four chambers grouped into northern and southern ranges; along the western side of the southern range, a staircase attests to the existence of an upper storey. Entry is obtained from the southeast through a doorway furnished with a stone that could roll within a channel cut into the threshold. The structure itself is a square late Roman tower, 10.7 meters on each side, built from large, smoothed fieldstones set with precision. Its exterior was reinforced by a plastered glacis composed of carefully finished masonry. Bibliography: Magen, Y., Har-Even, B. and Sharukh, I., "A Roman Tower and a Byzantine Monastery at Khirbet El-Qasr", in: Christians and Christianity IV- Churches and Monasteries in Judea, edited by Carmin, N., Jerusalem, 2012: 247-298. Magen, Y., "Late Roman and Byzantine Towers in the Southern Hebron Hills", in: Judea and Samaria Researches and Discoveries, edited by Magen, Y., Jerusalem, 2008: 217-246. Kloner, A. and Hirschfeld, Y., "Khirbet el-Qasr — A Byzantine Fort with an Olive Press in the Judean Desert, ", in: Eretz-Israel: Archaeological, Historical and Geographical Studies, Michael Avi-Yonah Memorial Volume, Jerusalem, 1987: 132-141.