Nahal 'Arod

Mosque Name: Nahal ‘Arod Open Air Mosque

Country: Negev

City: Rural - Negev Highlands

Year of construction (AD): 700-799

GPS: 30.496555 34.707789

Gibson Classification: Unknown

Rebuilt facing Mecca:

Description:

This open air mosque is on a low hill, above the convergence of the watercourses near Macaleh ‘Arod (Avni 1985: 86). It is built as a rectangular enclosure open to the north (figure 2) with the longest wall (0.4-0.5 m wide) facing south. In the center is a mihrab niche (width 1 m, depth 0.8 m) built of large flat stones (0.5 x 0.7 m) standing on their narrow end. The walls of the structure were constructed of two rows of roughly hewn field-stones: an inner row of flat, upright stones, and an outer row of small, rounded stones. The walls are one course high (about 0.3 m), and this was probably the original height, since no debris was found in the vicinity. The interior of the mosque is free of stones but is covered with a thin layer of silt that accumulated after the structure was no longer in use. North of the mosque, on a terrace at the foot of the hill, the remains of a settlement containing seven rectangular and oval structures were found. On the slope to the east a terrace wall encloses an area that probably was used for agriculture.

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Information taken from:

Early Mosques in the Negev Highlands: New Archaeological Evidence on Islamic Penetration of Southern Palestine Author: Gideon Avni Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, No. 294 (May, 1994), pp. 83-100