horvat_kur_aerial
▶ Satellite image of Horvat Kur (provided by Dr. Uzi Leibner, Jerusalem).

The Site

Horvat Kur is located in the hills just west of Tel Kinrot, in the midst of fertile plains on a high-plateau above Wadi Amud. Earlier surveys had already indicated the potential of the site, but so far no expedition has adopted it for systematic exploration. Therefore, the site and its vicinity will be intensively investigated in the coming years by LUPoREG (Leiden University Project on Rural Eastern Galilee), a subproject of Kinneret Regional Project under the responsibility of Jürgen Zangenberg and Mark van der Enden from Leiden University/NL.

Exploration

An initial survey in July 2007 revealed that the site was densely built up with building terraces and houses during the Roman and Byzantine periods. Some earlier and later shards indicate that settlement extended beyond these peak periods, a late Ottoman farmstead on the western slope of the hill is the only later structure discovered so far. A public building (tentatively identified with a synagogue in older literature) on top of the hill suggests that the settlement had some architectural differentiation.

schumacher_map
▶ Map of Tel Kinrot and surrounding sites drawn by Gottlieb Schumacher in 1889 (provided by Pater Hieronymus, Tabgha).

Future Research

Horvat Kur, because of its good state of preservation, is ideal for a systematic investigation of the internal structure of small settlements in rural Galilee, their agricultural infrastructure and their cultural profile. The interaction between various groups and their cultures in Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine rural Eastern Galilee will be addressed in the coming years, in addition to aspects of settlement history, as well as the interplay between humans and their natural environment. Despite the big role that villages play in, e.g., the New Testament or in Rabbinic texts, we still know relatively little about them. Through its work on Horvat Kur, LUPoREG intends to contribute to an ongoing and lively academic discussion about this important feature of Hellenistic to Byzantine Galilee.