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‘Atiqot 97 (2019)
ISBN 2948-040X
Remains from the Mamluk Period in the al-Waṭṭa Quarter, Safed (Ẓefat)
(with a contribution by Oded Katz)
(Hebrew, pp. 1*–95*; English summary, pp. 271–275)
Edna Dalali-Amos and Nimrod Getzov
Keywords: Galilee, historical sources, Black Death, numismatics, economy, imports, animal bones
The excavation on the western slope of the city of Safed revealed building remains of the Mamluk-period neighborhood of al-Waṭṭa (fourteenth–fifteenth centuries CE). Four strata were documented: Stratum IV, including pre-Mamluk remains; Stratum III, the main occupation layer, including dense building remains of a Mamluk-period neighborhood; Stratum II, a layer of debris within and between the Stratum III buildings; and Stratum I, a post-occupation layer. Stratum III came to a dramatic end in the first or second decade of the fifteenth century CE, probably due to an earthquake. Many pottery vessels, as well as glass vessels, coins, and metal and bone artifacts were recovered from the debris layers of the destroyed neighborhood, attesting to daily urban life in Mamluk-period Safed.