Table of contents in Hebrew and in English

The site is located on a steep slope, overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. The finds were retrieved from surface collection and from the excavation of a thick, dark sediment layer covering bedrock. A total of 4028 artifacts were found, most of which was waste material. The artifacts belong to two occupation phases: the surface finds point to a Mousterian knapping tradition; the finds from the excavated layer are of an industrial nature and the tool types are frequent in assemblages of the later stages of the Pottery Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods.

The site, located on the southern spur of the Goral Hills, overlooks the Be’er Sheva‘ Valley. Two structures were discovered dating to Iron Age IIB–C: a dwelling and an adjacent storage building. The dwelling is of the four-room house type, fronted by a courtyard. A staircase south of its opening led to a second story. The pottery finds included mainly tableware, as well as storage vessels. The adjacent storage building is elongated and oriented east–west. It was filled with a layer of collapse overlying an ash layer that contained production waste. The debris probably originated in a pottery workshop or kiln, the production waste of which was found nearby. The pottery finds included primarily holemouth jars.

The tomb, constructed from large, roughly dressed basalt stones, consisted of a courtyard, a burial chamber surrounded by two stories of loculi (kokhim) and a large subterranean chamber. Part of a basalt-stone door, which originally sealed the tomb opening, was found; it was carved in imitation of a paneled wooden door, and originally swung on hinges, one of which survived in situ. The finds within the tomb included pottery and glass vessels, an iron nail and a limestone ossuary, mostly dating to the end of the first–early second centuries CE; a magical amulet, representing a reaper and incised with a Greek inscription, was found in a heap of debris near the tomb. The kokhim and the ossuary point to the Jewish character of the interred, although the overall plan is not typical of Jewish tombs.

Following a reexamination of the Greek inscription on a mosaic pavement uncovered at Kibbutz Hazor, near Ashdod (see ‘Atiqot 51), a new reading is offered. The inscription, which must have adorned the entrance of a winepress attached to a monastery, states the date the winepress was commemorated. The date points to the use of a non-local era; this use might hint at the abbot’s wish to symbolically mark the border between himself and his foundation, and the catholic bishop of Ascalon. 

This article summarizes the results of several surveys and excavations conducted between 1995 and 1996 at Horbat Burgin, northeast of Bet Govrin. Within the boundaries of the necropolis that surrounded the settlement on three sides were three types of tombs, dating to the later part of the Second Temple period; a Christian burial cave was documented as well, belonging to the Byzantine-period settlement at the site. A bell-shaped cistern was found to contain the engravings of crosses and two illegible inscriptions in Paleo-Hebrew script. Three hiding complexes were observed in the survey; all had been breached and plundered in the past. The finds at the site suggest that during the Second Temple period Horbat Burgin was a large village, which should probably be identified with Kefar Bish mentioned by Josephus Flavius.

The site is located north of Bet She’an and sits on brown basaltic soil. Two occupational layers were revealed, dating from the Late Hellenistic–Early Roman (Stratum II) and the Late Roman–Early Byzantine (Stratum I) periods. Most of the potsherds retrieved were attributed to the later phase. A study of the frequency of the pottery types indicates that a workshop operated at the site, specializing in the production of storage vessels. As few analogous vessels are known from contemporary sites outside of Bet She’an, it would seem that the urban center at Bet She’an was large enough to support the pottery workshop at Horbat Rodem.

A large complex winepress, excavated at Mishmar Ha-‘Emeq, represents the peak in the development of winepresses in the country toward the end of the Byzantine period. Several winepresses of this type have been excavated throughout the country: in the Negev, in the southern coastal plain and in the Carmel. Although they are not identical, they functioned in a similar manner and were connected technologically. They all have five common characteristics: a large treading floor, two connecting vats, one intermediate vat, a screw press or other devices for secondary pressing and auxiliary floors. This elaborate plan allowed for industrial production of wine.

In a salvage excavation at the site, located in the heart of the Sharon plain, the remains of buildings, agricultural installations, cisterns, a well and industrial waste of glass production were uncovered. The main building excavated is a church, erected in the fifth–sixth centuries CE, divided into three sections. Its floors were adorned with colorful mosaics, depicting floral patterns and a Greek inscription. This church, and other churches unearthed in the region, point to the possibility that the Christian incursion into the Sharon plain was less than previously estimated. In the seventh century CE the church was turned into an olive-oil plant; later, two limekilns were built.

Five strata, dating to Iron Age II and the Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine and Early Islamic periods, were exposed in the village of Tamra. All strata revealed only meager architectural finds and few, mainly domestic, pottery finds. This excavation was the first at the site to reveal findings dating earlier than the Roman period and hence its importance. It seems that throughout history, the village of Tamra was a small rural settlement.

The site, located in the Pisgat Ze’ev neighborhood in northern Jerusalem, yielded three settlement strata from the Hellenistic and Roman periods (III), the Early Islamic period (II) and the Mamluk period (I). Most of the buildings and installations were erected on bedrock during the Early Islamic period. The architecture comprises elongated halls with thick walls, pilasters that supported arches bearing the ceiling, as well as rectangular limestone troughs—all pointing to the buildings’ function as stables. During the Mamluk period the stables were reused, adapted for dwelling by the construction of partition walls; one of the buildings was partly paved with flagstones and mosaics (a mosque?). Most of the pottery dates from the mid-seventh to the tenth centuries CE, including glazed vessels and lamps. The finds from the later settlement are rich, consisting of handmade pottery decorated with painted geometric designs, dating from the mid-twelfth to the thirteenth–fourteenth centuries CE.

Three underground vaults exposed next to and north of the synagogue at Moza were part of a subterranean water reservoir of a Crusader-period building that existed at the site. Two of the ashlar-built vaults are parallel, with pointed ceilings treated with dark gray plaster. The vaults were separated by three arches borne by square pillars, constructed from ashlars bearing the typical Crusader diagonal dressing and mason’s marks. Apparently, water was conveyed to the vaults via a channel from nearby springs. The third vault incorporated a chute that drained the water into it. Above the underground water reservoir were a Crusader hall and courtyard. This building was probably part of the extensively developed array of settlements, farms and roads, which were constructed in the region between the twelfth century and the end of Frankish rule in 1187 CE.