461 Water Cisterns in Idumea, Judaea and Nabatea in The

ARAM, 13-14 (2001-2002), 461-485 A. KLONER 461

WATER CISTERNS IN IDUMEA, JUDAEA AND NABATEA IN THE HELLENISTIC AND EARLY ROMAN PERIODS

AMOS KLONER

A reliable supply of water has always been a fundamental prerequisite for human existence, particularly in the Mediterranean and other arid zones. The present article will show how the problems of a reliable water supply were solved in Judaea and Nabatea during the Hellenistic and Early Roman periods when new types of water cisterns and reservoirs were cut into the rock, in large and small settlements as well as in unsettled areas.

CISTERNS IN MARESHA AND IDUMEA

Archaeological excavations were conducted between June and August 1900 by F.J. Bliss and R.A.S. Macalister at the site of ancient Maresha (Marissa; Tell Sandahanna in Arabic), which extends over an area of 24 dunams (approximately 6 acres). These excavations revealed an ancient mound with layers dating to the Iron Age II and the Persian periods as well as two phases (Ptolemaic and Seleucid) belonging to the Hellenistic period. The Seleucid city, dating from the 2nd century BCE, will be referred to here as the “upper city.” Bliss and Macalister's report does not mention caves or quarries in the upper city. Extensive remains were found above the bedrock surface. While there is insufficient data to determine its actual function, we assume the fortified upper city served as an acropolis. Bliss and Macalister (1902:52-61), Thiersch (1908:394-401), and Avi-Yonah (1977:782-788), who summarized the work of his predecessors, only knew of the upper city and interpreted the finds there as if it was an independent site. It is now clear that at the foot of the upper city there was a vast lower city. Excavations on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority were conducted in the lower city and in the rock-hewn subterranean complexes located there in 1972, 1984 to 1986, 1988, and 1989 to 1999 (Kloner 1991; Kloner 1996b). The construction of the upper city predated that of the lower by several decades. While no data exists that enables an exact determination regarding the first construction of the lower city, it seems reasonably that it took place already around 280 BCE. Several of the excavated areas revealed remains of even earlier structures dating back to the end of the 4th century BCE. The lower city, at least in its general layout, was almost certainly planned in advance as shown by the street grid and its adjacent public and private buildings. The town planners had to take 462 WATER CISTERNS IN IDUMEA, JUDAEA AND NABATEA into account the various limitations of the area such as previous constructions, rock-hewn caves from the Iron Age and Persian periods, and the overall topogra- phy of the site. Most of the construction work at Maresha included roughly rec- tangular blocks of local chalky limestone (on the Rock Formations and the Hew- ing Process see Kloner, in press, Chap. 1). Some of this building stone was quarried in artificial caves that were left disused following the stone-extraction process. Other sources of stone were quarried in subterranean spaces that were pri- marily and, only in a few cases subsequently altered and used as workshops, columbaria, and water cisterns. Until the lower city began to develop, most probably in the first quarter of the 3rd century BCE, upper Maresha clearly functioned as a self-contained urban unit, albeit of small size and with a limited population. It was around that time manufacturing activities, processing of agricultural crops, water storage, and the keeping of livestock began in the subterranean complexes of the lower city. A fortification wall surrounded the lower city of Maresha. The suggested course of this wall is based on the assumption that the subterranean complexes were included within the walled area and that the burial caves must have been located outside inhabited areas. These, like the other constructions mentioned above, were developed and extended mainly during the second half of the 3rd century BCE. The construction and the hewing in the lower city spread from the acropolis (i.e. the mound or the upper city) towards the outer perimeter. In excavation Areas 53, 61, and 930 large dwelling houses were uncovered, with ground level areas extending between 150 to 400 square meters. They all had a central, square-section pillar supporting a winding staircase that ascended to an upper story (Kloner 1996a). Walls and parts of buildings were discovered in all the excavated areas of the lower city. In Area 100 five shops opened onto a street running west to east. In the back rooms and in the courtyards next to the shops were staircases ascending to upper stories. Parts of buildings, but not complete residential dwellings, were uncovered in a number of areas. The buildings uncovered in the lower city appear to have served as residences, commercial stores, and workshops. Probes conducted in the proximity of the openings and passages leading to rock-cut caves, have brought to light walls constructed mainly of chalky limestone. Additional walls, mainly foundation courses, built of hard nari type limestone were less common. Taking into consideration a population density ratio of 50 persons per dunam (Broshi 1979:1), an area of 240 dunams would have been inhabited by between 10,000-12,000 individuals. Our more recent excavations in the lower city have revealed the existence of densely built-up large houses. This new architectural reassessment, together with an enhanced evaluation of the capacities of these dwellings, has allowed for a revision of our earlier estimate of 5,000 people. An estimation based on a supposed “low density of construction in the lower city of Maresha,” (Kloner and Sagiv 1989:53). A. KLONER 463

The finds from the ground-floor levels of the houses at Maresha revealed constant changes, probably because of changing functions. The ownership of a room (or rooms) on the ground floor could change hands through sale or lease. The transferal of rights of use to a room entailed separating it from the rest of the house by closing openings and altering or moving the entrance. Returning the room to its former function again required the closing off old exits and re-opening partitions that had altered the original layout of the house. Conceivably, certain rooms on the ground floor could also have served as cheap housing for single individuals or for low-income families. Such rooms could be connected to the houses proper by direct passageways or alternatively by indirect means of access. A city of intense commercial activities such as Maresha also required accommodations for merchants, emissaries, officials, cart drivers, caravan per- sonnel, soldiers, and other transients who came to the city during the course of their business. Hence, there must also have been hostels in the city. Alterna- tively, as we have suggested above, the house owners may also have rented out rooms in their houses. The subterranean city of Maresha is unique in terms of its overall size and number of spaces, by comparison to all other known complexes in other regions and from other periods. Man-made caves were found beneath all the residential houses in all the excavated areas. The number of subterranean rooms and spaces accessed through one opening from the ground surface varied from one to four. During Bliss' and Macalister's season of excavations at Maresha in the sum- mer of 1900, while Bliss was supervising the work above ground, Macalister was deep in the bowels of the earth conducting the first systematic examination ever made of “these wonderful and mysterious underground rooms and passages. The labor was by no means easy, involving the passing of long hours in stifling air, creeping on hands and knees through long passages, and ascending steep slopes of chalky debris in order to secure measurements” (Bliss and Macalister 1902: 11). The most common layout consisted of a descent by way of a dromos-like staircase, which gave access to spaces on the right and left, and to a third space whose opening was opposite the lower end of the dromos. Thus see in Subterra- nean Complex no. 61, unit 15 the three rooms and cisterns nos. A 17, A 18 and A 48; unit 14 – nos. A 57, A 38 and A 41 (Fig. 1). Only in few cases were there more than four subterranean spaces per house and in even fewer cases – ten or eleven. Where there were more than four subterranean spaces, these apparently served specialized functions. The rooms of the caves were sometimes connected at a later point in time by the cutting of openings through the contiguous walls; other walls were removed in their entirety. New spaces were also later hewn and added to the complex. The majority of these activities were carried out in the second half of the 2nd century BCE, although in some places there is evidence of 464 WATER CISTERNS IN IDUMEA, JUDAEA AND NABATEA such work having been carried out at the beginning of that century. The joining and the connecting of adjacent caves became common at the time of the Hasmonean conquest at the end of the 2nd century BCE, and continued apace in the following centuries. When the caves no longer filled their original function they became clogged with eroded soil and stones or, as in a few cases, some of the subterranean spaces were intentionally blocked up. Almost all the Maresha caves were hewn to serve economic needs. Economic activities were conducted below the surface out of engineering considerations based on the durability of the rock walls and ceilings. The cost of quarrying and providing suitable spaces for workshops and installations in the soft chalky limestone underground was far cheaper and more convenient than constructing these above ground where the expense of building was tenfold and the maintenance of structures was costly. Among the caves were 22 oil-pressing installations, 85 columbaria, 3 stables, about 120 water reservoirs and about 90 cistern that apparently did not hold water and about 110 spaces that served as quarries, some large and with no ap- parent use. There were also numerous passageways and entrance halls, and hundreds of other spaces whose original purpose could not be established as they were filled with earth. Certainly, many of them will be identified as water cisterns. A few dozen small spaces served as bathrooms or for purification purposes, including the “filter chambers” mentioned by Macalister: “There is a another class of special chamber of great interest, also confined to the Tell Sandahannah group, so far as my experience goes; these may be called filter-chambers. They are always adjacent to a large bell-chamber, which must have been used as a water-store. Water was directed through a filter-chamber by a spout cut in its side, and poured into the large bell-chamber through a narrow hole connecting the two” (Bliss and Macalister 1902: 209; see Fig.2). Descent into the caves was from the houses above, from courtyards and inner spaces, from rooms and corridors to baths, from passages between houses, and in some cases from passages to the street adjacent to the house through separate entrances (Kloner et al.. 1998:163; Kloner and Arbel 1998:57-59). Manufacturing and processing installations were found in caves throughout the lower city. Olive-oil presses and columbaria were everywhere, albeit in smaller concentrations in the northern sector compared with most of the areas of the city. As indicated above, these installations were closely connected with the large residential units. Even where the entrances to the installation were not in the house itself, the caves extended directly beneath the rooms of the house. Water for use in the home or for sale was drawn from contiguous installations that were used by neighbouring households. Thus, two such adjoining installations, even if they had been hewn in the rock during one operation, each had its own entrance and functioned independently. A. KLONER 465

The underlying assumption of the present study is that the residential houses of Maresha, even the largest ones, served families over generations and that the means of production belonged to these families, or at least to their relatives. It is likely that slaves and their families, who constituted an important productive social element, lived under the same roof as the families. Presumably, the slaves occupied inferior, more crowded quarters, in the same building with a greater number of people per room. Hence, the estimated figure of 15-30 individuals in the same house does not seem to be an exaggeration. Our calculations based on about 900 residential houses multiplied by 15 inhabitants per house, provides the figure of 13,500 for the total population. This number is close enough to the 12,000-10,000 mentioned above in the calcu- lation of the inhabited area and the population density per dunam (one dunam = 1000 sq. m.; 4 dunams= approximately 1 acre). The water supply of Maresha was almost entirely based on diverting and collecting run off water in cisterns. The figure of 120 water cisterns is a crude estimate as many more cisterns have been discovered at Maresha, but we lack clear evidence that water was stored in them since no plaster or filling of cracks and joints has been noticed. Macalister was the first to describe the Maresha underground cistern type. According to him the most common type of steps discovered in the subterranean complexes of Maresha (Tell Sandahannah) was unique to this site and confined to the underground cisterns (Fig.3). This local peculiarity consists in the provi- sion of a rock-hewn parapet along the inner side of the steps (Fig 4). It is difficult to imagine why such obvious safeguards should occur at Maresha and nowhere else. These parapets are usually about 15 to 20 centimeters thick and 75 centimeters to a meter or more high. Their tops are stepped downwards, following the line of the staircase (Fig 4). In one remarkable case a staircase runs across the opening between two adjacent bells, and is provided with a parapet on each side (Fig. 5). There are above a hundred stepped bell-chambers on Tell- Sandahannah (= The lower city), and there are more than a dozen in which the staircases have no parapets (Fig. 6). Macalister speaks therefore of chambers displaying this peculiarity as being of the Sandahannah type (Bliss and Macalister 1902:206-207). While the majority of the Maresha type cisterns are circular in plan some are oval or square among them the one in subterranean complex 21. Certain cisterns were observed and described in the second half of the nine- teen century by several scholars and the only known water cistern system (Mugharet Sandahana; No. 53 in Macalister's list) was mapped and described by the team of the Survey of Western Palestine (Conder and Kitchener 1883: 291-292;). The cisterns had a capacity of 300-400 cu ms each, and they were usually cut in the rock in pairs or threes. The reservoirs received their water by the diversion of rainwater runoff, and then by channeled overflows from the first 466 WATER CISTERNS IN IDUMEA, JUDAEA AND NABATEA cistern. Three large interconnected cisterns of this sort were found beneath the house in Area 53 (Mugharet Sandahana; Conder and Kitchener 1883: 291-292; Bliss and Macalister 1902: 250-1; Kloner 1985:102-107; 1991:79-85; Gibson and Jacobson 1996: 226-229). In some cases the cisterns were filled one-by-one from different water gutters running from roofs or from channels. In years of normal rainfall, these cisterns would have held more water than what was required by the 10-15 persons living in the house, and the considerable surplus could then be sold. Large, double and triple interconnected cisterns are common in the subterranean complexes of Maresha, for example: complexes no. 18 (Bliss and Macalister 1902:Pl. 101; Fig. 5); no. 70 (Kloner 2001 [in press]); nos. 29 and 31 (Miron 1985:108-112); no. 61 (Fig.1; Kloner and Arbel 1998:157-162) and 74 (Ben-Haim and Kloner 1989:11-16). Macalister manifested the phenomenon of the water cisterns at Maresha in his report concerning subterranean complex no. 18 (Fig. 5). “The entrance is at A. The most convenient route through the principal part of the souterrain is marked by a dotted line, and the chambers are numbered in the order in which they would naturally be visited in following this line. It is also possible (though dangerous) to enter chamber 6 directly through its dome-entrance, and (with the aid of a crane) to enter the large rectilinear columbarium (5) by holes in the roof. The passage from chambers 1 to 2 has on the left a great pile of loose earth, which it would be unwise to attempt to climb over, as it would probably result in the explorer being thrown into and buried at the bottom of chamber 2. If this impassable barrier could be got over, it is probable that further chambers would be found behind it. A window (perhaps accidental) is broken between chambers 1 and 3. A very narrow hole, which has to be passed through with caution (as there is a six or seven-foot drop on the other side), leads to the very fine stepped bell-chamber No. 4. The fifth chamber is a columbarium, having three to five rows of square loculi, in quincunce, on the walls…The sixth chamber is a stepped bell, remarkable for not belonging to the Sandahannah type; i.e., it has no parapets to the staircase. Chambers 7 and 8 are a remarkable interesting pair, opening from the foot of the staircase in 6. They are approached by a double-parapeted stair (the only one I have seen) running down the opening between them. Chamber 8 has also an independent staircase of its own, branch- ing off near the top of the common stair. Another quite unique feature of this part of the excavation is the extraordinary cylindrical shaft, 15.25 metres deep, in the centre of the floor of 7… The diameter of the shaft widens to about 2.50 metres, a width which it maintains uniformly throughout its whole length. Down the sides are to be seen the putlog holes for the scaffolding by which the excavators ascended when their work was done: it was then probably fired so as to get it out of the way. There does not appear to be any side opening at the bottom; at least, none can be seen from the top by the light of a candle lowered by a cord. The deep rope grooves round the mouth show that something, probably water, was habitually drawn out of this shaft. A. KLONER 467

The rest of the cave is of less interest. The opening between 8 and 11 is stopped by debris. To proceed farther a return must be made to 4, and its staircase de- scended below B, the point at which this chamber was originally entered. Cham- ber 9, passed on the way, is of small size. The five chambers 10-14 are all greatly ruined, possible by an earthquake, the fragments of their roofs, walls, and staircases are lying about the floor in the wild confusion. The original partitions between them have been nearly completely destroyed, so that the general effect is now that of one enormous room. High up on the wall of 14, at a point once accessible by a staircase, but now not to be reached without some very unsafe climbing, is a doorway probably leading to a continuation of the system”. As we have entered the complex several times since than it can be assured that this description is quite accurate and well deciphered by the distinguished, then young, archaeologist. Only two remarks will be here added: The deep shaft in the center of the floor of 7 is presumably a well. We know today of at least four more such shafts in the lower city, dug to a considerable depth in the chalky rock formation, in order to get even a few liters of water a day. The Subterranean complex (souterrain) no. 18 is combined of several separate systems, which in a later time were connected; columbarium no. 5 was used as a pigeon raising installation and the cisterns belong to at least 4 separate systems. Subterranean complex 61 was partially excavated in 1992 and 1993 (Fig 1). Prior to that a survey was conducted there (Kloner 1993). Here only the cisterns will be described in detail. The systems that include cisterns of importance are: System 15. A stepped, roofed corridor, hewn into the chalk rock, was exposed. The corridor ended in two cisterns and two rooms. A cistern (A 18; Fig 7) with a gable-shaped ceiling was exposed west of the corridor; its entrance was deco- rated with a lintel projecting on either side of the door posts. A staircase was cut along the south and west sides of the cistern; the floor of the cistern (2.7 x 4.4 m) was covered with a thin deposit of silt. Judging from the way the cistern was hewn, it was probably converted to a cistern after having served some other purpose. System 17. This was reached from the east through a stepped rock-cut passage, which was found sealed by masonry. A cistern (A37) was found west of the stepped passage; a flight of stairs with a stair-rail was hewn in the south and east sides of the pit. A shallow deposit of silt was identified on the floor. At a later stage a square shaft was hewn in the ceiling of the pit, to drain rainwater from the surface; the shaft is now blocked. A further cistern (A50), found sealed almost up to its ceiling, was exposed east of the stepped passage. A flight of stairs hewn in the south and west sides of the cistern had a parapet. An opening used to drain water was found at the bottom of the upper part of the stair-rail. Repairs were discerned in the flight of stairs: some stairs were raised, some rebuilt. Late open- 468 WATER CISTERNS IN IDUMEA, JUDAEA AND NABATEA ings breached in the sides of the pit linked it with Room A49 to the east and with a columbarium hall (A19) to the north. The finds in the cistern included many complete pottery vessels from the Hellenistic period, among them lamps and Rhodian amphorae. Also associated with this system, but not for water storage, were two rooms (A51, 1.9 x 2.5 m, and A56), connected by a short passage with a low ceiling. A basin of unknown function was hewn in the northeast corner of Room A51, and an opening breached in the northwest corner led to Room A55 (below; System 19). Most, if not all, of the ceramic finds in the two rooms dated to the Hellenis- tic period. System 19. Two sub-systems (networks) each containing one room and two cisterns. Each network was reached from the east through a rock-cut staircase. The north network (the older of the two) included Room A59, whose plan was altered because of later quarrying and building activity, and Cisterns A22 and A23; later quarrying activities were also the reason for the poor preservation of the steps descending to the cisterns. The quarrying activities left clear evidence, in the form of the stepped floor of Cistern A22. This cistern was excavated down to bedrock. In a later phase a square shaft (depth 16.7 m) was cut to permit access to the cistern. A deposit of silt (depth c. 2 m) was found in the cistern floor; it included intact lamps and jar sherds, all from the Hellenistic period. The south network included Cistern A21 (Fig. 8), hewn later than Cistern A22 (Fig. 6), and Cistern A20 (Fig. 9), which was even earlier. Silt on the floor of both cisterns contained pottery of the Hellenistic period: mainly jugs and lamps of which the greater part was intact. Descent to both cisterns was by way of a rock-cut flight of steps with a completely preserved parapet. Along the steps ran drainage channels ending in a drainage hole. Whole lamps and potsherds of the Hellenistic period were found on the floor of Room A55 (1.9 x 2.9.m), which also belongs to this network. System 20. Two large and only partially excavated cisterns (A24 and A25). System 22. A cistern (A31), later converted into a quarry, was exposed. The entrance was to the north by a flight of steps with a parapet that began in one of the buildings above ground. Here too, the entrance was blocked by late building activities. A small altar was cut in the upper part of the stair-rail. At a later phase, the cistern was deepened and two broad, rough steps were added for the rock- cutters' use. South of this cistern was a second, smaller cistern (A30; 1.8 x 2.3 m) which was reached by a flight of steps that branched off the steps of Cistern A31. Shallow deposits of silt containing potsherds of the Hellenistic period covered the floors of both cisterns. The walls of both cisterns were breached to link them with Room A26. Two adjacent rooms were exposed in the upper part of the flight of steps. Room A53 (1.12 x 1.15 m) was apparently used as a bath, although the tub itself had not been preserved. Its function is indicated by the presence of a carefully A. KLONER 469 hewn channel, typical of other bath installations and filter chambers discovered at the site. It appears that the residential houses of Maresha were owned by extended families, that both lived in them and used them as a place for production activities and other sources of income, including water selling. The sale of water was apparently a known source of income in the Hellenistic period. At Alexandria water was commonly sold; there are statuettes of young, curly-headed, black African carriers, apparently slaves working for their masters, bearing full water skins. It is quite possible that some of the house owners, whose income was connected with the caves beneath their homes, were large scale water merchants. The most common arrangement of the caves in Hellenistic Maresha consisted of a descent by a dromos-like staircase, which gave access to spaces on its right and left, as well as to a third space whose opening was opposite the lower end of the dromos-like stair case. In many cases one of the spaces thus arranged was a water cistern, in some, two and, in a few, three. This common layout with three spaces is found in other sites in the Judaean Shephellasuch as at Khirbet el-'Ain (Bliss and Macalister 1902: Pl. 98, the upper part of the plan of the souterrain; see the same plan also in Kloner and Tepper 1987: 243, Fig. 109), ‘Amuda (Kloner and Tepper 1987: 196-7, Fig. 88), Rasm e-Rusum (Kloner and Tepper 1987: 219, Fig. 95) . The original cutting of these systems is Late Hellenistic – Early Roman and they were incorporated in the Hiding Complexes during the Bar Kokhba (= Ben Kosba) war (132-135 C.E.). Cistern 15 in the Temple Mount in Jerusalem has a flight of steps leading down along the inner wall (Gibson and Jacobson 1994: 150-155; 1996: 90-95). As such it resembles the stepped cisterns of Maresha and has consequently been dated to the Hellenistic period. According to Gibson and Jacobson (1996: 225-226, 231) the origin of this type of cisterns is unknown. The characteristic type of cistern at Maresha was a hybrid of two earlier forms of water installations found in the Iron Age: The small bell-shaped cisterns, on one hand, and the large shaft water systems with steps spiralling along their inner walls, on the other.

CISTERNS IN THE JUDEAN DESERT FORTRESSES, THE MOUNTAINOUS REGION AND IN MOAB

A unique type of water reservoir is found in the Hasmonean and the Herodian fortresses in the Judean Desert. These cisterns were cut in the upper parts of the steep slopes, below the fortified citadels and fortresses located on the summits (Garbrecht and Peleg 1994). Water was diverted and carried by aqueducts, in a very low gradient, to the square cisterns arranged along a horizontal line. Being 470 WATER CISTERNS IN IDUMEA, JUDAEA AND NABATEA plastered, sealed and having steps leading to the bottom are common details in all the other groups of cisterns included in the present article. As these sites are well recorded they will be mentioned with only one bibliographical reference: Alexandrium (Amit 1989: 218-220), Hyrcania (Patrich 1989: 255- 259), Dok (Amit 1989a: 226 -227), Cypros (Meshel and Amit 1989: 233-237), Masada (Netzer 1989: Fig. 10) Herodium (Netzer and Arzi 1985). Two more sites, with cisterns arranged in a line, presumably from the same time and located in the inner mountainous region of the land of Israel (Palestine) are the fortress of Akrabim at Kh. Urme (Eshel and Erlich 1988) and the lofty site of Horvat Kefira (Eshel and Amit 1991). A few more sites, with cisterns of the same type, were recorded at Khirbet al-Hamam (Narbata, Zertal 1995: 71), Kh. Jumjum and H. Tura (The last two sites not yet published). Macherus, in Jordan is also a Hasmonean and Herodian fortified palace and thus has similar water supply and cisterns quarried in the slope of the steep hill (Strobel 1974). The very same phenomenon is found at Kh. el-Medeineh, located at the meeting of Wadi Saliya and Wadi Saida in the upper Wadi Mujib basin. In this site foundations and lower parts of an aqueduct in the saddle are visible together with three square plastered cisterns in the upper part of the northern steep slope. On the platform of the site itself impressive remains of a quarried and partially constructed large cistern and a ritual bath (mikveh) can be seen. The surface finds in the site are mainly Late Hellenistic and Early Roman (On the site see recently in Miller 1989: 25-28, and bibliography there; Miller and the other scholars dealt with earlier periods and remains).

RITUAL BATHS (MIKVA'OT)

These installations bear some typical details, similar to the square slope side cisterns. The water supplied to them should not be pumped, but has to be diverted only by gravitation. People entering the ritual bath have to be immersed as an act of purification. Thus the entrance and steps, arranged at one of the sides of the mikveh, lessened the potential volume and water in the installation. The ritual bath was generally of modest size (see examples and discussions in Reich 1981, 1984; For more examples see Bliss and Macalister 1902: 216; Patrich 1989: 258-9; Netzer 1991: 13-6, 227-8, 507-510). But there are several excep- tions such as the large ritual bath installations in the Hebron mountains (Amit 1993: 175-177, 180-185) and the “Tomb of the Kings” in Jerusalem (Kon 1947: 30-38, who describe the two miqva'ot as reservoirs). These big cisterns were only recently identified as ritual baths. We can not exclude the possibility that the Edomites residing at Maresha practiced purity customs in the filter chambers, bathtubs and other purity installations during the Hellenistic period and before the Hasmonean conquest. A. KLONER 471

THE CISTERNS IN THE NEGEV AND NABATEA

A new type of cisterns of the Negev Highlands is found in the Early Nabatean period, more specifically in the first century BCE (Negev 1993: 1133-4). These cisterns are called maagura (Hebrew) and harabe (in local Bedouin Arabic). Prior to that, during the Iron Age (= Israelite period) cisterns were cut in the rock near settlement sites. These were usually hewn into the chalk or marl, and were round and open to the sky. Sometimes the cisterns were lined with stones, and some of these reservoirs may have been covered with tenting to reduce water loss through evaporation. The capacity of these cisterns varies from a few to hundreds of cubic meters. This type was firstly identified and dated by Aharoni (Even-ari and alii 1958:241-242; 246-247; Even-ari, Shanan and Tadmor 1971: 157-8). Dozens of such cisterns have been discovered and they seem to have been the standard means of collecting water and storing it (Cohen 1981:Sites 18, 64, 98; Lender 1990:Sites 177, 390; Heiman 1991:20*; Rubin 1990:106-107). It is not clear what were the water sources of the many farmsteads, and of the nearby settlements and fortresses of that period. No remains of cisterns were found there, but they may have been destroyed over the centuries. In other sites of the II Iron Age there were few hewn cisterns with vertical openings as well (Cohen 1985: Sites 43, 48). The next clear stage of cisterns in the Negev highlands took place at the beginning of the Nabatean settlement in the 1st century B.C.E. when the Nabatean kingdom flourished. Then and there is when Ìarabes appear for the first time. This water collecting system is very different from the earlier methods, and from this period on, it became the dominant form of water supply in the Negev. Kedar (1967: 55-63) described the technology of the system but did not address the chronology of the Ìarabes. Even-ari, Shanan and Tadmor (1971: 159-166) and Moran and PalmaÌ (1985: 33-36) studied this form of water collection and con- serving by surveying and documenting dozens of cisterns. The Ìarabes have certain characteristic features: they are all hewn in the rock- wall, mostly chalk or hard limestone, of a streambed or into a sloping bank. The most common form is that of a right-angled hall with a ceiling, supported by a pillar or two, and in a few cases also with four pillars (Fig. 12). The roof prevent- ing evaporation attests to a fundamental understanding of desert conditions–the result of generations of experience. The hard limestone or chalk walls of the Ìarabes were usually plastered to make them impermeable, even though chalk permits but little seepage. In those cases where the rock is badly fissured, the large cracks in the walls and floors were filled with small stones and pebbles before the cisterns was lined with a mortar plaster. The Ìarabe could be entered through the opening on the side of the slope. A drawing platform and steps to the bottom were provided for the convenience of the users. The water flowed in through another opening in the ceiling of the 472 WATER CISTERNS IN IDUMEA, JUDAEA AND NABATEA

Ìarabe. All the cisterns have silt traps at their inlets.. The construction of these underground reservoirs entailed great rock-cutting labors, but there is no evidence of any building or use of cement at the time they were made. Like all water reservoirs, the Ìarabes periodically had to be cleared of silt that washed into them with the water. The alluvium that was removed was dumped on top of the quarrying waste, forming white, crescent-shaped accumulations outside (Fig. 13). That the Ìarabes were constructed by the Nabateans is attested by their presence throughout the extent of the Nabatean controlled areas, by the very few cases of Nabatean pottery found in or around ruined Ìarabes of the Negev highlands, by the appearance of the Nabatean divinity symbol on the central supporting pillars of the Ìarabes (Glueck 1965: 5, Pl. 210; Glueck 1968: 223-224; Brunnow and Domaszewski 1904: 410, fig 463), and by their proximity to characteristic Nabatean settlements and road remains. Near the Nabatean road from Oboda (‘Avdat; Negev 1997) to Mampsis (Mamshit, Kurnub; Negev 1988 a, b) are the remains of a Nabatean settlement from the 1st century C.E., with Ìarabes located along this axis. Some of these are near the line of the road whereas others are located several hundred meters from it, depending on the physical properties of the rock. The water supply of the Nabatean structure at Map Ref. 1334:0341 is the most important concentration of Ìarabes in NaÌal Îatzatz at 1348:0339 (Fig. 14). The Nabatean fort at Map Ref. 1309:0334 received its water from the Ìarabes about 1 km south of it (Cohen 1981: XI; Sites 83, 97, 99, 101; Moran and PalmaÌ (1985: 133). These Ìarabes are hewn in chalk outcrops of the MenuÌa formation (Fig. 15). This type of chalk has high water retention properties and is easily worked, which explains why Ìarabes are often somewhat distant from roads or settlement sites (Lender 1990: Sites 136,465). In the case of the Nabatean “Cistern Fort” near the ancient road from ‘Avedat to Îalutza at Map Ref. 1261:0306, the Ìarabe is actually cut into the fortress, for the entire area around it is of the same hard limestone (Cohen 1985: Site 119). The most southern water cistern of this type in the Negev, is found in wadi Guraiya, at Map Ref. 1128: 9713 (Avni 1992: Site 246). The connection between the Nabatean water reservoirs and local topographic conditions is also in evidence along the Petra- Oboda (‘Avdat) road cisterns were built in suitable runnels a few hundred meters. Near two of the road forts, the Metsad (= Fort) Neqarot (Map Ref. 1500:9985; Cohen 1993: 1142) and the Metsad MaÌmal (Map Ref. 1429:0104; Cohen 1993: 1140; Fig. 17) from the forts and the road. The cisterns were plastered and roofed with vaults. Because of the hard rock, they were not hewn but built onto the rock-wall of the streambed and later covered with alluvial material and stones to counteract the pressure of the stored water on the built walls. The dimensions, form, water direction methods, and the openings for drawing water of these cisterns are similar to the usual Nabatean Ìarabes. The Ìarabes were normally hewn outside the town limits. A. KLONER 473

The storage cisterns within settlements are similar to those in the north of the country, that is, they are round or square with a narrow opening at the top. The hewing of Ìarabes in the rock continued also after the Nabatean period, and the Nabatean Ìarabes were used mainly when the settlement of the Negev peaked in the Byzantine period. Some of the Ìarabes have been cleaned by the Bedouins of the regions and are in use to this day. Very few cisterns of this Nabatean type were found in Edom. Similar water cisterns were found at Beida, close to the eastern side of Siq el-Bared, north of Petra. These cisterns are dated to the early Roman (= Nabatean) period. Cisterns nos. 835 and 836, according to Petra numbering series, were recently cleaned in 1991 (Zayadine and Farajat 199: 281, 300 Pl. V:1, 2). The big cistern at Beida, about 1000 m3, is quarried in the local sandstone, and contains the typical features of a Nabatean covered reservoir. The cistern was made as three parallel arms, perpendicular to a central tank (15 x 7 meters), oriented from west to east. A long stair of steps, attached to the west wall of the west arm, is leading inside, down to the bottom, from the original opening cut in the south-west corner of the upper level. The bedrock left in between the three parallel branches of the reservoir, created the supports for the rock ceiling, serving as central pillars, found in the Negev harabes. Five layers of plaster creating a about 10-12 centimeters thick coating, testify to the long use and reinforcement of the water tanks. An- other typical feature of these Nabatean covered cisterns is the way the water entered the tanks. The collected rainwater was channeled inside through an opening in the ceiling of the cistern, definitely not by the opening in the upper part of the southern wall of the reservoir. This last mentioned opening was planed in advance, and was the first cutting in the project. The steps leading from it to the bottom were used as the main approach during the quarrying. These steps re- mained the main approach for later cleaning and removal of solid materials that accumulated on the floor as well. The typical Nabatean roofed cistern here described is located about 5 kilometers from Petra to the north; While in the city itself a constant supply of water, com- ing from the spring of Ayun Musa, was used, in places like Siq el-Bared, the collection of run off water was practised (On Siq el-Bared – Petra minora, “Little Petra”, used as a caravan stop and another Nabatean settlement in Wadi e-Tahuna, east of Ras Sleisel, including some references, see Kloner 1996: 127- 134). Recently Helge H. Fisher calculated the water quantities collected in this specific reservoir. These are some of her calculations and conclusions, which illustrate the achievements of the enterprise, even though they can nott be fully accepted. The catchment field comprises an area of 16500 m2 (130x 130 ms). The yield of the catchment area based on a mean annual rainfall of 130 mms (about 5 inches; this figure mentioned by Fisher seems too low according to other sources of information) in that region is calculated at 2145 m3 with no loss, 1073 m3 with 50% loss and 643 m3 with 70% loss respectively. A loss of 50% due to evaporation and absorption is considered realistic. This means that 474 WATER CISTERNS IN IDUMEA, JUDAEA AND NABATEA the Nabateans appeared to match the capacity of the cistern to the expected annual yield of the catchment area. Even at a loss of 70% of the total water supply from the catchment area the harvest would still be 643 m3, i.e. enough to fill the cistern more than half way. In this case the over-capacity of the cistern would allow for storage of higher yields in years with above average rainfall (Fisher 1999). At Humayma, mid way between Petra and Aqaba, cisterns of different appearances were excavated. The expedition, headed by J.P. Oleson, surveyed and mapped 51 cisterns in the vicinity of the site. According to their dating some of these cisterns were already hewn in the 1st century BCE and others in the 1st century CE. The ceiling of the Humayma cisterns is based on parallel arches carrying horizontal blocks of stone, as were the constructed cisterns in the Negev, at Metsad Neqarot and at Metsad MaÌmal, above mentioned.

CONCLUSIONS

The appearance of cisterns in which the openings were cut in the higher half of their sides, close to the rock dome of the ceiling, is found since the third century in Idumean Maresha. The city relied on run off water diverted from roofs, streets and public open spaces to the many cisterns cut in the local soft limestone. It seems quite probable that the same idea of having the openings in the upper half of one of sides, generally the side facing the steep slope, is found in the cisterns of the other groups dealt with in this paper; the cisterns in the Judean Desert Fortresses and the mountainous region and in Moab and the cisterns in Nabatea,. The adoption of the side slope cistern principle began in Judea in the 2nd half of the second century BCE and was practiced widely in the con- secutive century and a half. In the Negev and Edom this peculiar type of cistern was introduced in the first century BCE and was practiced widely in the first century CE.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Fig. 1. Maresha, Plan of subterranean complex 61. Note the complexity of this system and also the many cisterns. 478 WATER CISTERNS IN IDUMEA, JUDAEA AND NABATEA

Fig. 2. Maresha, subterranean complexes 56 and 61, drawings of a channel and the section of filter-chambers (After Bliss and Macalister 1902 Pl. 101).

Fig. 3. Maresha, subterranean complex 56, three inner chambers (After Bliss and Macalister 1902 Pl. 101).

Fig. 4. Maresha. A cistern with steps and parapet carved in the bedrock. A central pillar. A. KLONER 479

Fig. 5. Maresha, Plan and section of subterranean complex 18 (After Bliss and Macalister 1902 Pl. 101).

Fig. 6. Maresha, subterranean complex 61, system 19, cistern A22. 480 WATER CISTERNS IN IDUMEA, JUDAEA AND NABATEA

Fig. 7. Maresha, subterranean complex 61, system 15, cistern A18, after excavation.

Fig. 8. Maresha, subterranean complex 61, system 19, Interior view of water cistern A21; steps and parapet leading to the bottom, after excavation. A. KLONER 481

Fig. 9. Maresha, subterranean complex 61, system 19, cistern A20, and breakage of the wall and opening to A21.

Fig. 10. Masada, Cistern 6 in the upper row; notice the steps and the plaster along the walls. 482 WATER CISTERNS IN IDUMEA, JUDAEA AND NABATEA

Fig. 11. An open Iron Age II cistern.

Fig. 12. A cistern with two square pillars in Nahal Hatzatz. A. KLONER 483

Fig. 13. A cistern with a crescent – shaped accumulation outside.

Fig. 14. A cistern with a central square pillar in Nahal Hatzatz. 484 WATER CISTERNS IN IDUMEA, JUDAEA AND NABATEA

Fig. 15. A cistern with a central square pillar north of Shivta. A. KLONER 485

Fig. 16. Metsad Neqarot. Constructed cistern.

Fig. 17. Metsad Mahmal. Constructed cistern.