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‘Atiqot 93 (2018)
EISSN 2948-040X
Front Matter
Atiqot 93
Keywords: Front Matter
Table of content's in Hebrew and in English
Burial Caves from the Intermediate Bronze, Middle Bronze and Iron Ages at Nazareth
(pp. 1–44)
Yardenna Alexandre
Keywords: Lower Galilee, burial, burial kit, anthropology, fauna
Four partially preserved burial caves (A–D) were excavated near the Church of the Annunciation in the center of Nazareth. All the caves comprised a vertical shaft and a central burial chamber, hewn in the Intermediate Bronze Age and reused in the transitional Middle Bronze Age I–II. Cave D was reused in the Iron Age after a long chronological gap. The burial caves contained large quantities of pottery, some metal artifacts and a few other small finds.
Five Incised Stone Slabs from Maresha
(pp. 45–60)
Yael Young
Keywords: Judean Shephelah, graffito art, iconography
A group of five fragmentary stone slabs, each bearing incised or engraved figures, was unearthed within Subterranean Complex 57 at Maresha in the Judean Shephelah. The incisions belong to two categories based on their composition: arbitrary (i.e., graffito art) or planned. It is difficult to attribute graffito-art to a specific period on stylistic grounds alone; however, based on comparisons with graffito art previously documented at the site and its vicinity, the slabs probably date to the Hellenistic period (third or second centuries BCE).
A Milestone Station in the Bet Neṭofa Valley, North of Ẓippori, and Its Place in the Roman Imperial Road System in the Galilee
(Hebrew, pp. 1*–24*; English summary, pp. 163–165)
Yotam Tepper
Keywords: Galilee, Roman imperial road system, epigraphy, art, cult
A salvage excavation in the western Bet Neṭofa Valley exposed a square foundation, three large stone bases and three milestones. The three milestones are inscribed in Latin and seem to have been erected along a road that ran from north to south in two main phases: during the days of Hadrian (120 CE and 130 CE), and later, during the reign of Constantine (333–337 CE). The stone-built foundation dates to the fourth century CE. One of its stones bore a worn relief of an animal, probably a lion in profile. Its location beside the road suggests that it was a roadside installation, probably serving a cultic purpose. These findings attest to a major road intersection near the city of Ẓippori when Roman imperial road construction began in the region.
The Inscriptions on the Milestones from the Bet Neṭofa Valley
(pp. 61–64)
Benjamin Isaac
Keywords: Galilee, Roman imperial road system, epigraphy
Three milestones, inscribed in Latin, were found in the excavations in the Bet Neṭofa Valley. Two milestones are attributed the reign of Hadrian, one is dated to the beginning of his reign, in 120 CE, and the other, to his visit to the region in 130 CE. The third milestone dates to the days of Constantine the Great and his sons, between 333 and 337 CE. These milestones are important evidence of the earliest and latest recorded stages of systematic road-planning in Judea-Palestina.
Ḥorbat Basha: A Roman–Byzantine-Period Site in the Hinterland of Ashqelon
(Hebrew, pp. 25*–69*; English summary, pp. 166–168)
Ilan Peretz
Keywords: southern coastal plain, agriculture, installation, economy, numismatics, technology
The salvage excavation conducted at Ḥorbat Basha exposed traces of a building, walls, floors and habitation levels from the Roman period (second–late third/early fourth centuries CE), as well as two phases of a simple and complex winepress with secondary surfaces, dating to the Late Roman–Byzantine periods (late third/early fourth–sixth centuries CE). The finds include potsherds, glass fragments and coins. The site is part of an array of settlements in Ashqelon’s agricultural hinterland, whose occupants evidently produced wine. Ḥorbat Basha underwent abandonment and destruction during the late Byzantine period, probably following a local large-scale disaster, such as a plague in the mid-sixth century CE or the Arab conquest in the first half of the seventh century (634–640 CE).
The Coins from Ḥorbat Basha
(pp. 65–71)
Gabriela Bijovsky
Keywords: Ashqelon, numismatics
The excavations at Ḥorbat Basha yielded 53 coins, 24 of which were identified. All the coins are bronze, except for a silver fraction of a dirham. The bulk of the numismatic evidence comprises Late Roman minimi, dating from the first quarter of the fourth century until the mid-fifth century CE; five were discovered at the bottom of a collecting vat of a winepress. The absence of sixth-century CE coins at the site stands in contrast to the abundance of pottery and glass vessels from this period—a phenomenon previously recorded at other sites in the region.
Late Byzantine and Early Islamic Bathhouse Remains and Vestiges of Earlier Periods at Azor
(with a contribution by Raz Kletter)
(pp. 73–124)
Edwin C.M. van den Brink, Lev Kapitaikin and Yehudah Rapuano
Keywords: coastal plain, Umayyad, Abbasid, leisure, water facility, technology, cult
Excavations at Azor revealed architectural remains of a bathhouse that functioned over a long timespan, extending from the late Byzantine (fifth–first third of the seventh centuries CE) to the Early Islamic (ninth century CE) periods. The finds include plastered and tiled walls, hypocaust remains, cement water conduits, segments of clay pipes and ceramic tiles. These bathhouse remains are an important addition to the few known ancient bathhouses within the greater Tel Aviv area from this period. Sporadic finds recovered from fills point to the likely presence of a late EB I settlement and an Iron I–II occupation, including two cult stands.
Ramla, The Pool of the Arches: New Evidence for the Water Inlet into the Pool
(pp. 125–161)
Ron Toueg and Yael D. Arnon
Keywords: water supply, historical sources, survey, technology, conservation, Arabic inscription
The Pool of the Arches in Ramla has been studied architecturally and historically, but never tested archaeologically. Large-scale conservation works at the site offered a rare opportunity for an archaeological examination. Two areas were opened with the aim of revealing the water inlet into the pool and to resolve the reason for the construction of the pool at this location. Based on pottery finds, it seems that the pool ceased to be used during the Tulunid regime, in the late ninth or the beginning of the tenth century CE. This dating matches the date in which the Umayyad aqueduct ceased to function, and thus, it seems that the aqueduct conveyed water to the pool from the springs around Tel Gezer.
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