Khirbet Shema House

5th–6th Century

Illustration of a two-story ancient stone house with a courtyard. Two people sit on a platform in the courtyard, and another stands outside the house with a donkey. Below is a labeled floor plan of the house, platform, and street, with a scale for reference. — These plan and reconstruction drawings show a small house in the village of Khirbet Shema, in upper Galilee. The house had two stories, the upper serving as a living area and the lower as a workshop. The roof of the house was flat and could be used for industrial activities, drying food, and sleeping when it was too hot inside the house. Adjacent to the house was a courtyard with an oven and a platform for industrial activities. Some courtyards also contained a small underground cistern for water.

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Credits

Dr. Leen Ritmeyer, Ritmeyer Archaeological Design.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 2: Emerging Judaism.

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