Baysamun or Beisamoun (, Beisamûn) was a small Palestinian Arab village, located in the marshy Hula Valley northeast of Safad. In 1945, it had a population of 20.Hadawi, 1970, p. 69. It was depopulated during the 1948 War on May 25, 1948, by the Palmach's First Battalion in Operation Yiftach.
Beisamoun is an important archaeological site for the Neolithic period, with two plastered human skulls, cremation signs and house floors found there. It stood in close proximity to another major Natufian ("Final Old Stone Age") site, ʿAin Mallaha.
History Prehistoric and Bronze Age site
Kathleen Kenyon notes that Beisamoun disappeared under modern drainage systems set up by Israel; in the fish ponds created, Neolithic remains were found that included houses and two plastered skulls.Kenyon, 1985, p. 29. Rectangular houses with plastered floors show striking similarities to those at Byblos.Wright, 1985, p. 30. These "Levantine pier house[s]" were also found in Yiftahel, Ayn Ghazal, and Jericho.Negev and Gibson, 2005, p. 232.
A main period of habitation was during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B era, but also Early Chalcolithic and Bronze Age remains have been found.Khalaily and Bocquentin, 2008, Beisamoun (Mallaha)
British Mandate village The population of Baysamun in the 1922 census of Palestine consisted of 41 Muslims,Barron, 1923, Table XI, p. 42 increasing to 50 Muslims in 11 houses by 1931.Mills, 1932, p. 105
In the 1945 statistics the population was 20 Muslims, with a total of 2,102 dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 69. Of this, 107 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 1,817 for cereals;Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 118 while 133 dunams was non-cultivable area.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 970, p. 168
1948, aftermath It was depopulated during the 1948 War on May 25, 1948, by the Palmach's First Battalion in Operation Yiftach in a Whispering campaign.Morris, 2004, p. 251
In 1992 the village site was described: "No traces of the houses remain. The site is occupied by warehouses for agricultural implements used by Kibbutz Manara, which had been established in 1943. The land around the site is cultivated and fish ponds have been constructed close to it."Khalidi, 1992, p. 438
References
Bibliography
External links Welcome To Baysamun Baysamun, Zochrot Baysamun, Villages of Palestine Survey of Western Palestine, Map 4: IAA, Wikimedia commons