Hudaydun

Hudaydun
خربة حديدون
Map credit Location within Israel
Alternative names	Khirbat Hudaydun; Hadidun; Hdidun; Hebrew: חורבת חידות / חדידון (Horvat Hidot/Hadidon)
General information
Status	Ruin; archaeological site
Location	Between Caesarea and Pardes Hanna–Karkur, Haifa District, Israel
Coordinates	32°29′54″N 34°57′03″E / 32.498229°N 34.950742°E / 32.498229; 34.950742
Construction started	c. 1880s

Hudaydun (Arabic: حديدون), also recorded as Khirbat Hudaydun, was a Late Ottoman rural estate on the coastal plain east of Caesarea Maritima and west of Pardes Hanna-Karkur in the Haifa Subdistrict. Founded in the late 19th century as part of the Bosnian Muslim resettlement around Caesarea, Hudaydun is cited among the cluster of Bosnian-founded estates near Qisarya, together with al-Zughraniya, al-Manshiya, al-Sufsafa and Burj al-Kheil.

Name

The Arabic toponym Hudaydun appears in regional lists of ruins and farmsteads in the Caesarea–Pardes Hanna area; variant Hebrew renderings (Horvat Hidot/Hudeidun) reflect differing transliterations of the original Arabic name in local survey notes and maps.

Site

Hudaydun stands on low ground east of Caesarea and near the railway corridor west of Pardes Hanna–Karkur. The site is mapped at approximately 32°29′54″N 34°57′03″E / 32.498229°N 34.950742°E / 32.498229; 34.950742 (Palestine Grid ~1456/2116). It lies in sandy terrain about 1.5 km south of Naḥal ʿAda and was used in the early nineteenth century as a farm by Bosnian immigrants. A two-storied farmhouse, surrounded by an orchard, served as the mukhtar’s residence, while a small Muslim cemetery was documented c.50 m to the south.

Surface remains include rubble mounds within a copse of eucalyptus and traces of a well and farmstead; nearby springs are recorded as ʿAyn Hudaydun and ʿAyn al-Banāt.

History

Excavations revealed that habitation on site began in the Byzantine period. The finds included pottery sherds such as bag-shaped jars, an amphora, and roof tiles. Architectural remains included plaster floors, foundations of large ashlars, and two parallel ashlar walls with abutting plaster floors. Elements from a dismantled bathhouse—such as ceramic bricks from a hypocaust, colonnettes, and tesserae—were reused in later construction.

Following the Austro-Hungarian occupation of Bosnia (1878), Ottoman authorities settled Bosnian Muslim families in and around Caesarea, where several estates were established on surrounding tracts. Local summaries based on Hebrew survey literature recall that the late Ottoman mudir (district officer) at Caesarea—first the Circassian ʿAli Bek and later a Bosnian notable known as Aḥmad "Būshnāq"—were associated with lands and buildings at or near Hudaydun; orchards and wells were developed and property disputes with Circassian heirs are noted in Mandate-era files. Palestinian locality compendia describe Hudaydun as a ruin already before the British Mandate, with surviving cemetery remains and perennial springs.

The Bosnian estate at Hudaydun integrated the earlier Byzantine ruins into its construction and agricultural installations, combining traditional farmstead architecture with spolia from the ancient settlement. The excavation also uncovered parts of a nineteenth-century Bosnian farmhouse, including plaster floors, and an oil-press installation. A large elliptical crushing stone with a central groove was found in situ, set into a paved surface made from reused ceramic bricks of the earlier Byzantine bathhouse. Above these levels, Ottoman-period finds included fragments of a glazed bowl and roof tiles.

Hudaydun is listed as a subsidiary in the published 1931 census tables; population in the immediate area was generally recorded under the larger localities (e.g., Caesarea) and administrative subdistrict totals.

See also

• Caesarea Maritima
• Bosnians in Palestine
• Bayyarat al-Khuri
• al-Zughraniya
• al-Sufsafa
• Barrat Qisarya

References