050) Mafjar, Khirbet el-/Qasr Hisham
[PADIS code 0012]
Arabic: خربة المفجر / قصر هشام
Site location: Lat. +31° 52' 36.95" N; Long. 35° 28' 8.85" E.
Site extension: 65 dunams.
State of preservation: preserved (archaeological park).
Disturbance: quarrying activities.
Occupational periods: Early Islamic, Middle Islamic.
Plates: I, III, XLVII-LXVII.
Early Islamic Period
Site typology: palace.
Public architecture: palace (Hisham's Palace) with bath complex, mosque, fenced garden and caravanserai; water channels and reservoir; post-earthquake occupation (the site was partially reused during the Abbasid and Ayyubid Periods).
Material culture: statues, reliefs, stucco decorations, mosaics, ostraka, inscriptions, coins, pottery.
Bibliography: Conder - Kitchener 1883, 180, 211-212; Bliss 1894, 177-181; Clermont-Ganneau 1896, 20; Schneider 1931; Creswell 1932; Baramki 1936; 1937; 1938; 1942a; 1942b; 1947; Hamilton 1945; 1946; 1948; 1949a; 1949b; 1950; 1959; 1969; 1978; 1993; Schwabe 1946; 1959; Augustinović 1951, 155-157; Grabar 1955; Baer 1974; 1979; Crowe 1976, 92-100; Whitcomb 1988; Donceel - Voûte 1999; Piccirillo 1999; Cirelli - Zagari 2000, 368; Taha 2005a, 35-36; 2005b; 2010; Sabelli 2006; Yahya 2007, 21-22.
Middle Islamic Period
Site typology: palace.
Public architecture: palace (Salah edh-Din's refurbish).
Material culture: pottery.
Bibliography: Yahya 2007, 21-22.
Bibliography
| Augustinović, A. | |
| 1951 | Gerico e dintorni, Jerusalem 1951 (in particular pp. 155-157). |
| Baer, E. | |
| 1974 | "A Group of North Iranian Craftsmen at Khirbet el-Mafjar?", in Israel Exploration Journal 24 (1974), pp. 237-240. |
| 1979 | "Khirbet el-Mafjar", in B. Lewis et al. (eds.), Encyclopedia of Islam, Leiden 1979, pp. 10-17. |
| Baramki, D.C. | |
| 1936 | "Excavations at Khirbet el Mefjer", in Quarterly of the Department of Archaeology in Palestine 5 (1936), pp. 132-138. |
| 1937 | "Excavations at Khirbet el Mefjer, 2", in Quarterly of the Department of Archaeology in Palestine 6 (1937), pp. 157-158. |
| 1938 | "Excavations at Khirbet el Mefjer, 3", in Quarterly of the Department of Archaeology in Palestine 8 (1938), pp. 51-53. |
| 1942a | "Excavations at Khirbet el Mefjer, 4", in Quarterly of the Department of Archaeology in Palestine 10 (1942), pp. 153-159. |
| 1942b | "The Pottery from Khirbet el Mefjer, 4", in Quarterly of the Department of Archaeology in Palestine 10 (1942), pp. 65-103. |
| 1947 | Guide to the Umayyad Palace at Khirbet el-Mafjar, Jerusalem 1947 (reprinted in Amman 1956). |
| Bliss, F.J. | |
| 1894 | "Notes on the Plain of Jericho", in Palestine Exploration Quarterly. Quarterly Statement 26 (1894), pp. 177-183 (in particular pp. 177-181). |
| Cirelli, E. - Zagari, F. | |
| 2000 | "Gerico in epoca bizantina e islamica. Problemi e proposte di ricerca", in Archeologia Medievale 27 (2000), pp. 365-376 (in particular p. 368). |
| Clermont-Ganneau, C. | |
| 1896 | Archaeological Research in Palestine During the Years 1873-1874, Vol. II, London 1896 (in particular p. 20). |
| Conder, C.R. - Kitchener, H.H. | |
| 1883 | The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, and Archaeology. Volume III. Sheets XVII-XXVI. Judaea, London 1883 (in particular pp. 180, 211-212). |
| Creswell, K.A.C. | |
| 1932 | "Khirbet el-Mafjar", in K.A.C. Creswel (ed.), Early Muslim Architecture, Vol. 1, Oxford 1932, pp. 545-577, pls. 99-110. |
| Crowe, Y. | |
| 1976 | "Survival of Classical Elements in the Groundplan of Khirbet el-Mafjar", in Akten des VII Kongresses für Arabistik und Islamwissenschaft (Abhandlungen der Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philologisch-historische Klasse, 3. Folge, 98), Göttingen 1976, pp. 92-100. |
| Donceel-Voûte, P. | |
| 1999 | "Jéricho aux époques byzantine et omeyyade", in Dossier d'Archéologie 240 (Jan./Fév. 1999), pp. 115-121. |
| Grabar, O. | |
| 1955 | "The Umayyad Palace at Khirbet el-Mafjar", in Archaeology 8 (1955), pp. 228-235. |
| Hamilton, R.W. | |
| 1945 | "Khirbet el-Mafjar. Stone Sculpture", in Quarterly of the Department of Antiquities in Palestine 11 (1945), pp. 47-66. |
| 1946 | "Khirbet el-Mafjar. Stone Sculpture", in Quarterly of the Department of Archaeology in Palestine 12 (1946), pp. 1-19. |
| 1948 | "Plaster Balaustrades from Khirbet el-Mafjar", in Quarterly of the Department of Antiquities in Palestine 13 (1948), pp. 1-58. |
| 1949a | "The Baths at Khirbet el-Mafjar", in Palestine Exploration Quarterly 81 (1949), pp. 40-51. |
| 1949b | "A Mosaic Carpet of Umayyad Date at Khirbet el-Mafjar", in Quarterly of the Department of Antiquities in Palestine 14 (1949), pp. 120-129. |
| 1950 | "The Sculpture of Living Forms at Khirbet el-Mafjar", in Quarterly of the Department of Antiquities in Palestine 15 (1950), pp. 100-119. |
| 1959 | Khirbet al-Majfar, an Arabian Mansion in the Jordan Valley, Oxford 1959. |
| 1969 | "Who Built Khirbet el-Mafjar?", in Levant 1 (1969), pp. 61-67. |
| 1978 | "Khirbet el-Mafjar: The Bath Hall Reconsidered", in Levant 10 (1978), pp. 126-138. |
| 1993 | "Khirbet el-Mafjar", in E. Stern (ed.), The New Encyclopedia of Excavations in the Holy Land, Vol. 2, Jerusalem 1993, pp. 922-929. |
| Piccirillo, M. | |
| 1999 | "Le Qasr Hisham (Khirbet el-Mafjar). Le projet de restauration", in Dossier d'Archéologie 240 (Jan./Fév. 1999), pp. 122-123. |
| Sabelli, R. | |
| 2006 | "The Jericho Qasr Hisham Archaeological Park", in L. Nigro - H. Taha (eds.), Tell es-Sultan/Jericho in the Context of the Jordan Valley (Rome «La Sapienza» Studies on the Archaeology of Palestine & Transjordan 2), Rome 2006, pp. 237-252. |
| Schneider, M.A. | |
| 1931 | "Das byzantinische Gilgal (chirbet mefdschir)", in Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins 51 (1931), pp. 50-59. |
| Schwabe, M. | |
| 1946 | "Khirbet el-Mafjar: Greek Inscribed Fragments", in Quarterly of the Department of Archaeology in Palestine 12 (1946), pp. 20-30. |
| 1959 | Khirbet el-Mafjar. An Arabian Mansion in the Jordan Valley, Oxford 1959. |
| Taha, H. | |
| 2005a | Inventory of Cultural and Natural Heritage Sites of Potential Outstanding Universal Value in Palestinian, June 2005, Ramallah 2005 (in particular pp. 35-36). |
| 2005b | "Rehabilitation of Hisham's Palace in Jericho", in F. Maniscalco (ed.), Tutela, Conservazione e Valorizzazione del Patrimonio Culturale della Palestina, Napoli 2005, pp. 179-188. |
| 2010 | "Hisham's Palace", in This Week in Palestine 144 (April 2010), pp. 16-20. |
| Whitcomb, D. | |
| 1988 | "Khirbet el-Mafjar Reconsidered: the Ceramic Evidence", in Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 271 (1988), pp. 51-67. |
| Yahya, A. | |
| 2007 | PACE Tourguide of Jericho & Vicinity. Historical, Archaeological and Religious Sites, Ramallah 2007 (in particular p. 22). |