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‘Atiqot 93 (2018)
ISBN 2948-040X
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).