Archaeologists in central Israel have uncovered a 1,600-year-old estate tied to the ancient Samaritan community, revealing a "magnificent" mosaic floor, a purification bath and installations for olive oil production, the Israel Antiquities Authority said.
The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced the discovery in a Sept. 2 Facebook post. The remains were excavated at Khirbet Kafr Ḥatta in the modern city of Kafr Qasim and appear to belong to a Samaritan settlement that flourished from the 4th century until the late 7th century A.D. The site has been identified by some scholars as the possible birthplace of Menander of Samaria, a figure associated in later sources with the early Christian-era magician Simon Magus.
Excavators described the standout find as a large mosaic floor dominated by acanthus-leaf motifs common in Roman and Byzantine art, combined with rarer depictions of fruits and vegetables including grapes, dates, watermelons, artichokes and asparagus. In the entrance to one room they uncovered a partially preserved Koine Greek inscription wishing the building’s owner good fortune; officials said the owner’s first name was common in Samaritan communities.
The team also exposed a mikveh, or ritual purification bath, a basin where olives were crushed, and two screw presses. Ceramic oil lamps identified as Samaritan-style were recovered, and archaeological layers show that the estate—once affluent—was later refitted with agricultural installations for large-scale oil production.
"The wealth and luxury of the buildings were replaced by oil production and agricultural installations," said Daniel Leahy Griswold, director of the excavation, in the IAA statement. He added that new walls were built that damaged mosaic floors and that capitals and columns from the earlier construction were re-used in later masonry. Griswold said the estate’s preservation is rare because many Samaritan sites were destroyed during the Samaritan revolts under Byzantine rule.
Alla Nagorsky, another excavation director, described the site as "fascinating," saying its long-term occupation provides an opportunity to trace the community’s development and decline across centuries. The combination of domestic luxury, religious installations and later industrial adaptations offers researchers material evidence of changing economic and social conditions in the region.
The Samaritans are an ethnoreligious group with a history in the Levant that is reflected in biblical texts and later sources. Archaeological finds that can be securely associated with Samaritan communities are comparatively scarce, and well-preserved examples of their built environment can contribute to understanding their religious practices, economy and interactions with Byzantine authorities.
Scholars said the olive-oil installations could reflect a shift in the estate’s function during periods of unrest, as production for commercial or subsistence purposes sometimes supplanted elite domestic uses. The IAA has begun conservation work at the site and plans further study of the mosaics, inscriptions and material remains to refine dating and clarify the estate’s occupational history.
The IAA release did not provide the owner’s name from the inscription, nor did it give a timetable for publication of detailed excavation reports. Researchers said additional analysis of pottery, coins and building phases will be needed to map the estate’s evolution and its relationship to regional events in late antiquity.
For now, officials said the discovery at Khirbet Kafr Ḥatta adds a rare and instructive chapter to the archaeological record of Samaritans and the broader history of Byzantine-era Palestine.