Khirba (Ar.), pl. khirab , literally "ruin," refers to a ruined or abandoned place, or a place destroyed in a conflict and subsequently abandoned; the word is also an architectural term used to describe a physically disintegrating structure or an archaeological site (such as a tell or the architectural remains of a settlement). The term is often used interchangeably with the term kharāb (state of ruin) as describing a site of ruins, a neglected place (urban or rural), or an abandoned village (the opposite of ʿumrān , a place with a permanent