Overview

• Excavation at Khirbet Kafr Hatta in Kafr Qasim exposed a large agricultural compound occupied from the 4th to the 7th centuries CE.
• Mosaic floors feature dense geometric and vegetal motifs—including watermelon, artichoke and asparagus—and a partial Greek inscription wishing the owner “Good luck,” with the name Rabia noted.
• The northern sector preserves a two-wing olive-oil installation with two screw presses, a large crushing basin, a spacious warehouse and a public ritual bath.
• Archaeologists attribute the site to a Samaritan community based on the aniconic mosaic style, Samaritan-type oil lamps and orientation toward Mount Gerizim.
• Researchers describe a transition from an elite estate to intensified oil production in the late Byzantine period, propose links to documented Samaritan revolts, and emphasize that conservation and analysis continue while any tie to the 749 earthquake remains a hypothesis.