User:Huldra/Malaha

Malaha (Khurbet Malhah; meaning The salt ruin, خربة الملاحة) was an ancient village in the Haifa district, near Atlit, now depopulated. A maqam for a Sheikh Burayk still stands, as does a bridge from the Ottoman era.

History
This is possibly the place where a tower of Mahla existed in the neighbourhood of Caesarea.

"Noted in the 'Onomasticon' as five Roman miles north of Cæsarea, on the way to Tyre. The distance coincides with that of the present Khurbet Malhah".

Yaqut (1179–1229) mentioned it in Al-Mushtarak  by the name of "Majdal MalHaa'".

Ottoman era
Incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517, like all of Palestine, in the 1596  tax registers,  it was part of the nahiya ("subdistrict") of Sahil Atlit, part of the larger Sanjak of Lajjun. It had a population of 8 households, all Muslims. The inhabitants paid a fixed tax rate of 25% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, summer crops,  goats and beehives, in addition to occasional revenues; a total of 2,500  akçe.

In 1873, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine visited and noted: "Ruins of a village and rock-cut tombs; a modern arch is still standing. There is a chamber, sunk in the rock, about five feet square and six feet deep; also a cistern, cut in rock, lined with a thick coat of very hard cement, roofed with large stones, and apparently once covered by an arch; it is sixteen feet square and four feet high, reached by a shaft three feet deep and eight feet square. The lid of a sarcophagus lies in the ruins. Two systems of tombs, apparently of different date, also occur near. The first has eight tombs, all on one plan, and all closed originally by the rolling stone. On one a cross is cut. The chambers are 7 feet square and 5 feet high, with a loculus on each of the three sides 7 feet by 3 feet, the bottom level with the floor. Two or three steps lead down to the interior from the door, which is 2 feet square. Close by is a tomb of curious character, containing two kokim and three loculi. The chamber is 5 feet high, about 9 feet long, by 7 feet broad; a loculus each side 6 feet by 2 feet 6 inches, with pillows of stone for the head of the corpse ; the kokim one in each corner at the back of the side walls, 7 feet long, 2 $1⁄2$ feet wide ; the third loculus at the end, like the other two. Another tomb near is destroyed, as is also a bell-mouthed cistern, by quarrying. The second system consists of kokim tombs, the largest a chamber 11 feet broad, 12 $1⁄2$ feet deep, of irregular shape, with five kokim at the back, and three on each side-wall. They are 8 feet long, 3 feet broad, all but the third on the right, which is 9 feet by 3 $1⁄2$ feet, and has a round roof. A second tomb is 12 feet 6 inches broad, and 11 feet 6 inches deep, with three kokim on each of the three walls, each 6 feet by 3 feet, one unfinished. Over the door of this is a cross. A third tomb is 12 feet 6 inches broad, 14 feet 6 inches long; three kokim each side 7 feet by 2 feet 6 inches each; three at the back, one of the partitions broken away. It has a double door, with an arch in front, rudely pointed. Another chamber is 5 feet high, 5 feet wide, 7 feet 6 inches long; a koka on the right 3 feet high, 6 feet 6 inches long, 2 $1⁄2$ feet broad; a koka at the back of same dimensions, at the right end of the wall. A fifth chamber measured 11 feet 6 inches long, 15 feet wide, with three kokim each side 6 feet by 3 feet. At the end it seems to have had two kokim 7 feet long, and a central one 8 feet, but the partition walls have been cut away. The sixth tomb planned was a chamber 10 feet by 8 feet, 4 feet high, with two kokim on the left side. There is also a tomb of the kind seen at Iksal, which is generally of Christian origin : a shaft sunk in the face of the rock 2 $1⁄2$ feet by 6 $1⁄2$ feet, with a loculus under an arcosolium each side. Another tomb is merely a square chamber 8 or 10 feet side, with a door like the rest. Whilst the first system had rolling stones to the doors, the kokim group here appears to have had none."

In 1908 the Maqam of Sheikh Ibraq was pictured and described as having a white dome, with a metal top which carried a half moon. Though the building was not of great significance, the place was held in great reverence by the surrounding population.

British Mandate era
In the 1931 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Malaha (called Shaykh al-Burayk)  was counted with Ijzim, Khirbat Al-Manara, Al-Mazar, Khirbat Qumbaza  and al-Washahiyya. Together they had a population of 2,160; 88 Christians and the rest Muslim, in a total of 442 houses.

temporary notes

 * Google Maps shows it here. User:Zero0000: actually, that google map is a bit wrong, the remains are on the other side of that little road (towards the large road, on the left.) The biblewalks site shows it clearly. I have absolutely no idea as to how you change the google position, though, Huldra (talk) 21:54, 21 May 2018 (UTC)
 * "Not known to many, but forever remembered by its former residents - the story of the Armenian village Sheikh Brak is one of Israeli ambivalence toward the Armenian Holocaust":


 * The unseen village, by Sara Leibovich-Dar, Ha'aretz, 14 May 2003
 * The unseen village, Part II, by Sara Leibovich-Dar, Ha'aretz, 14 May 2003
 * See kibbutz: Neve Yam and Ein Carmel (devided the land)


 * See User_talk:Al_Ameer_son and User_talk:Al_Ameer_son
 * from Fjmustak: Khirbat Al-Malaha: called Khirbat Al-Malha today. In the southern part of the village, it contains (including Sheikh Bureik) "foundations, rock carvings, tombs, caves, quarries, tanks, and presses" (Palestinian Facts "الوقائع الفلسطينية" p. 1585).  And Sheikh Bureik is a small Armenian village next to the settlements of Atlit and Neve Yam .  In 1961 it had a population of 61.  During Roman times, Migdal Malha was established in that location, and Yaqut mentioned it in Al-Mushtarak page 385 by the name of "Majdal MalHaa'".
 * User:Fjmustak Do you know which year that Yaqut  book was published? Also, is it possible that you could find the reference in one of the Wüstenfeld's Wörterbuchs of Yaqut? Huldra (talk) 22:21, 22 May 2018 (UTC)
 * Hi . This particular book that I linked to is the 2e for that publisher, published in 1986. --Fjmustak (talk) 15:26, 23 May 2018 (UTC)


 * 1931 counted under Ijzim …me thinks….
 * Most likely, since Kh. es Sheik Bureik lay on a detached part of the village land of Ijzim. Zerotalk 08:17, 22 May 2018 (UTC)


 * The main N-S road (Highway 2) is new. I overlaid a 1945 map with a modern map and I found that "Kh. Malaha (Ruins of)" is to the west of the highway, between the highway and the train track, while "Kh. es Sheik Bureik" is to the east of the highway. The distance between the two ruins is not great (say 300m) but they aren't the same place. Zerotalk 08:13, 22 May 2018 (UTC)
 * OK, so Khurbet Malhah would be the ruins marked "West ruins" on the bible walks page? But the  this is still wrong: the maqam is to the left of that small road, not the right, Huldra (talk) 21:13, 22 May 2018 (UTC)
 * Indeed it is only 30m from the edge of the highway. On Google's aerial photo it is visible as a faint white dot, but in this aerial photo you can see it very clearly including the dome. Zerotalk 07:48, 23 May 2018 (UTC)