Hisham's Palace

Hisham's Palace (Arabic: خربة المفجر‎ Khirbat al-Mafjar or Arabic: قصر هشام‎ Qaṣr Hishām) is an important early Islamic archaeological site five km north of the town of Jericho, at Khirbat al-Mafjar in the West Bank. Spreading over 60 hectares (150 acres), it consists of three main parts: a palace, an ornate bath complex, and an agricultural estate. Also associated with the site is a large park or agricultural enclosure (ḥayr) which extends east of the palace. An elaborate irrigation system provided the complex with water from nearby springs.

History of Study

The site was discovered in 1873.The northern area of the site was noted, but not excavated, in 1894 by F.J Bliss, but the major source of archaeological information comes from the excavations of Palestinian archaeologist, D.C. Baramki between 1934 and 1948. In 1959 Baramki's colleague, colonial administrator for the British Mandate government Robert W. Hamilton, published the major work on Hisham's Palace, Khirbat al-Mafjar: An Arabian Mansion in the Jordanian Valley. Baramki's archaeological research is unfortunately absent from this volume, and as such, Hamilton's analysis is exclusively art historical. Baramki's research on the archaeological aspects of the site, particularly the ceramics, was published in various preliminary reports and articles in the Quarterly of the Palestinian Department of Antiquities. Many of the finds from Baramki and Hamilton's excavations are now held in the Rockefeller Museum in Jerusalem.