Dayr al-Dubban

The village stood on a sloping hill at the end of the western foothills of the Hebron Mountains. Secondary roads linked it to the adjacent villages of 'Ajjur, to the northeast, and Tall al-Safi, to the northwest. These roads ultimately led to the highways connecting the cities of Hebron, Ramla, Gaza, and Jerusalem. The village name was probably a colloquial variant of al-dhubban ('flies'), raising the question of whether the ancient inhabitants of the village worshipped Ba'l Zabub ('lord of flies'), the chief Canaanite deity in Aqrun (south of Ramla). In 1596 Dayr al-Dubban was a village in the nahiya of Jerusalem (liwa' of Jerusalem), with 396 inhabitants. It paid taxes on wheat, barley, olive trees, vineyards, and fruit trees, as well as on goats and beehives. In the early nineteenth century the American biblical scholar Edward Robinson reported passing near Dayr al-Dubban on his way to examine some caverns nearby.

The modern population of the village was Muslim. Rainfed agriculture represented its main economic activity, followed by animal husbandry. The people of Dayr al-Dubban cultivated two grain crops annually, one in summer and the second in winter. As a customary practice they divided the land into eastern and western sections, planted one section during one season and left the other fallow. The land that was immediately adjacent to the site was gradually planted with fig trees, grapes, and vegetables. In 1944/45 a total of 5,358 dunums was allocated to cereals. Animals were pastured on the nonagricultural land. Dayr al-Dubban was built on an archeological site containing the foundations of buildings, mosaic floors, burial places, and rock-hewn presses. The village was located in an area rich in archaeological sites; there were five sites within the 2 square km of land surrounding the village.