THE EXCAVATION AT PTORA, NEAR KIRYAT GAT, has uncovered an 8000-year-old village and "the remains of a first century C.E. farmhouse, apparently abandoned by its Jewish occupants during the bloody revolt against Roman occupation in the year 70 C.E. . . . The building had an open court yard used as a kitchen, and two baths" (Ha'aretz, via Archaeology Magazine News).