'A wealthy landowner, overseeing farmsteads in the northern Negev, may have resided on the estate,' excavation directors say.
A 1,200-year-old luxurious rural estate, the first of its kind in the Negev, was exposed in the archaeological excavations carried out by the Israel Antiquities Authority prior to the expansion of the town of Rahat.
Unbeknownst to anyone, a surprise awaited the archaeologists in the building courtyard: a unique vaulted complex overlying a three-meter-deep rock-hewn water cistern.
The building, dated to the Early Islamic period (8th-9th centuries CE), was constructed around a central courtyard, and it comprised four wings with rooms to serve the needs of the residents.
Source: INN