Horvat Burgin

Horvat Burgin

חורבת בורגין
Location	Israel
Region	Shephelah
Coordinates	31°38′18″N 34°58′10″E / 31.63833°N 34.96944°E / 31.63833; 34.96944
Type	Settlement
Part of	Iron Age, Hellenistic period, Roman period, Byzantine period, Ottoman period, Mandate for Palestine
Area	7.4 ha (18 acres)
History
Periods	Iron age - Ottoman period
Cultures	Jewish, Christians, Muslim
Site notes
Condition	Ruined
Ownership	Public
Public access	Yes

Horvat Burgin, or Burgin,^[1][2] is an archaeological site in the Judaean Lowlands, near Nehusha, Israel. Settlement at the site began in the Iron Age. During the Second Temple period, it was a Jewish settlement, which was abandoned in the aftermath of the Bar Kokhba revolt. In the Byzantine period it was populated by Christians, likely including Georgian monks. In the modern period, it was a small Arab hamlet named Khirbat Umm Burj, which was depopulated in 1948.^[2][3]

The ruin is located about 7.5 km northeast of Beit Guvrin and about 17 km northwest of Hebron. 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.^[1][2]

Surrounding the ruin are wide valleys that were used in ancient times and even today for agriculture, and to the northwest of it is the Burgin well, next to which is a system of pools for collecting water.^[1][2][4] The ruin has dozens of underground installations, including water cisterns, columbarium installations, storerooms, underground oil presses, and a necropolis. In addition, Bar Kokhba hiding complexes were discovered, one of which had an inscription from the Second Temple period in fluent Hebrew script - Shlmtzin, probably referring to Shlomtzion, a common Jewish female name at that time.^[1][2][5]

During the 19th and 20th centuries, the site, then known as Khirbet Umm Burj,^[6][7][8] was described as half-ruined, and both it and the Arab village in the Hebron Subdistrict established after 1926 severely damaged the ancient remains.^[1][2] Ashlar stones and designed architectural elements were incorporated into the walls of the modern village and the sheep fences and were found scattered around the site and on the northern and western slopes. 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.