Khirbet Raddana and the Four-Room House
A textbook early Israelite village near Ai and Bethel
Found 1969 — Joseph Callaway and Robert Cooley (Southern Baptist Theological Seminary), salvage excavation 1969–74
Where Khirbet Raddana, northwest edge of al-Bireh / Ramallah (West Bank (Palestinian Territories))
Dates from c. 1200–1050 BCE · Iron Age I · Judges
Now at Site built over; finds in the Rockefeller Museum, Jerusalem
How Khirbet Raddana and the Four-Room House was found
Found during construction of a suburb of Ramallah; excavators exposed clusters of pillared houses with courtyards, cisterns, and a jar handle bearing three early alphabetic letters (read as 'Ahil-' or similar), one of the first Iron I inscriptions from the hills.
What it is
A small unwalled village of roughly 4 acres. Houses have a broad back room and three long rooms divided by stone pillars, the 'four-room house' that becomes standard in Israel and Judah for six centuries. Collared-rim jars, bronze tools, and plastered cisterns were found; no pig bones.
Why it matters for the Bible
Raddana is one of the clearest examples of the new Iron I settlement in the region of Benjamin and Ephraim, the heartland of the Judges stories. It shows what an ordinary village like the ones in Shoftim looked like: family compounds, grain in silos, water from cisterns, no walls. Some identify it with Ataroth-addar of Yehoshua 16:5, though this is not certain. The inscribed handle proves at least a few villagers could write.
The Hebrew word: BAH-yeet
בַּיִת
בַּיִת is pronounced BAH-yeet and means house, household (Strong's H1004).
Places
- Benjamin — בִּנְיָמִין (been-yah-MEEN) — son of the right hand
- Ataroth-addar — עַטְרוֹת אַדָּר (at-ROHT ah-DAHR) — crowns of Addar
Events
Settlement of Benjamin and Ephraim (Joshua 16-18)
Khirbet Raddana and the Four-Room House in Scripture
Joshua 16:5 Ataroth-addar on Ephraim's southern border; Raddana is one proposed location.
Judges 6:11 Gideon threshing wheat in a winepress by his father's house; Raddana shows the kind of family compound in view.
Questions people ask
What is Khirbet Raddana and the Four-Room House?
A small unwalled village of roughly 4 acres. Houses have a broad back room and three long rooms divided by stone pillars, the 'four-room house' that becomes standard in Israel and Judah for six centuries. Collared-rim jars, bronze tools, and plastered cisterns were found; no pig bones.
When was Khirbet Raddana and the Four-Room House discovered?
It was found in 1969 by Joseph Callaway and Robert Cooley (Southern Baptist Theological Seminary), salvage excavation 1969–74, at Khirbet Raddana, northwest edge of al-Bireh / Ramallah.
Where is Khirbet Raddana and the Four-Room House today?
Site built over; finds in the Rockefeller Museum, Jerusalem.
Which Bible verses does Khirbet Raddana and the Four-Room House relate to?
Joshua 16:5, Judges 6:11.
Related discoveries
- בַּיִתThe House of AhielA four-room Judean house in Area G with its owner's name on a potsherd and a stone toilet
- חָרְמָהTel MasosA large open settlement in the Beersheba Valley on the eve of the monarchy
- גָּזִיתTel 'Eton Governor's ResidencyA tenth-century ashlar building in the Judean lowlands
- נַחֲלָהIsraelite Settlement SurveysHundreds of new hill-country villages appear around 1200 BCE
- אוֹצָרShiloh Storage Rooms and Collar-Rim JarsPillared storehouses and pithoi along the northern wall — the sanctuary's pantry
- אֶבֶן גְּדוֹלָהBeth Shemesh Iron I Temple and Stone TableA 12th-century shrine with a massive flat stone — the 'large stone' where the ark rested?
Sources
- J. A. Callaway & R. E. Cooley, 'A Salvage Excavation at Raddana, in Bireh', BASOR 201 (1971)
- Wikipedia: Four-room house
- J. A. Callaway & R. E. Cooley, 'A Salvage Excavation at Raddana, in Bireh', BASOR 201 (1971), 9–19 (cited in BAS Library)
- Z. Lederman, 'An Early Iron Age Village at Khirbet Raddana: The Excavations of Joseph A. Callaway' (Harvard PhD, 1999)
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