By Abigail Klein Leichman - August 29, 2022
A 1,200-year-old luxurious rural estate, the first of its kind ever found in the Negev, was exposed in archeological excavations by the Israel Antiquities Authority.
The dig was funded by the governmental Authority for the Development and Settlement of the Bedouin, prior to the expansion of the Bedouin town of Rahat. To their surprise, the archeologists came across a unique vaulted complex overlying a three-meter-deep rock-hewn water cistern.
The four-wing building, dated to the Early Islamic period (8th-9th centuries CE), was constructed around a central courtyard.
One of the wings encompasses a hall with a marble and stone floor and walls decorated with frescoes (paintings on damp plaster) finely colored in red, yellow, blue and black.
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