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‘Atiqot 70 (2012)
ISBN 2948-040X
An Umayyad-Period Aqueduct for the Irrigation of Farmland South of Ramla
(Hebrew, pp. 145–152; English summary, pp. 92*–93*)
Oren Shmueli
Keywords: water system, Early Islamic period, agriculture, technology
A 150 m long section of an aqueduct was exposed approximately 100 m south of Ramla. The aqueduct is U-shaped, with three layers of plaster and traces of travertine. One covering stone was preserved
in situ
. Within the plaster mixture lining the aqueduct were sherds of Gaza-type jars, dating to the sixth–seventh centuries CE. Pottery vessels from the fill inside the aqueduct were attributed mostly to its final phase of use, during the eighth century CE. The excavated section appears to have been part of the aqueduct’s water conduit system, built at the beginning of the Umayyad period. It may have provided water for a farm belonging to the rural hinterland of Lod.