Part of a 1,200-year-old rural estate discovered during excavations by the Israel Antiquities Authority during expansion of the town of Rahat, Israel. Photo by Oren Shmoeli

Israeli archaeologists have discovered a 1,200-year-old “luxurious” rural mansion in the Bedouin city of Rahat in the Negev desert in the country’s south.

The archaeologists of the Israel Antiquities Authority who conducted the excavations believe that the property, dating back to the early Islamic period, may have belonged to a “wealthy landowner, overseeing farmsteads in the northern Negev.”

The rural estate, described as the first of its kind found in the Negev desert, was built around a central courtyard, with four wings leading to halls and rooms featuring partially frescoed walls and marble floors. Other rooms on the estate had plaster and stone floors, and in some rooms, very large ovens for cooking and fragments of delicate decorated glass serving dishes were found.

“In the excavation, the luxurious estate was uncovered in an area located between two ancient mosques, perhaps among the earliest ever discovered,” said Eli Eskosido, Director of the Israel Antiquities Authority.

Digging below the courtyard, the archaeologists uncovered a complex of stone-built vaults at a depth of 18 feet standing to a height of 8 ft.

“This is a unique discovery unknown until today,” said Oren Shmueli, Elena Kogan-Zehavi and Noé D. Michael, the directors of the Israel Antiquities Authority excavation. “The vaults were carefully constructed, and they probably led into additional underground complexes that have not yet been uncovered. Our biggest surprise was the discovery of an opening below the vaulted rooms, that led into a deep rock-hewn cistern.”

The stone-built underground vaults served as rooms to store food at cool temperatures and during the summer, residents of the real estate could use the structures to shield themselves from the scorching heat in the desert and to drink cool water from the adjacent cistern, the archaeologists explained. Clay oil lamp shards found on the vault floors to lighten dark rooms provided further indication that residents used the underground space during the heat of the summer.

“The luxurious estate and the unique impressive underground vaults are evidence of the owners’ means,” the excavation directors said. “Their high status and wealth allowed them to build a luxurious mansion that served as a residence and for entertaining; we can study the construction methods and architectural styles, as well as learn about daily life in the Negev at the beginning of Islamic rule.”