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After Alexander Onn and Shlomit Weksler-Bdolah, “Umm el-‘Umdan, Khirbet (Modi’in),” NEAHL 5:2062 (2008).

MOTHER OF COLUMNS. Located on a hilltop, Umm el-‘Umdan has long been known as an archaeological ruin. The site was first surveyed by French archaeologist Charles Clermont-Ganneau in 1873 and by the British Survey of Western Palestine a decade later. The Arabic name Umm el-‘Umdan means “Mother of Columns,” owing to the several columns described by Clermont-Ganneau at the site. As seen on this plan of the site, excavations led by the authors during the past decade have uncovered part of an ancient Jewish village containing a synagogue, a mikveh, domestic buildings and street lanes.