During April 2000, a salvage excavation was conducted in the center of Ramat Yishay (Permit No. A-3229; map ref. 21620–1/73440–1), prior to construction. The excavation, undertaken on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority and underwritten by the project initiator, was directed by A. Mokary, with the assistance of B. Hana (surveying) and H. Tahan (pottery drawing).
A single excavation square (Fig. 1) was opened and four walls (W2–W4, W8; width 0.2–0.6 m, max. height 0.5 m) that belonged to a building from the Mamluk period were exposed. The walls, preserved a single course high, were built of dressed limestone that was placed directly on bedrock. Body fragments of bowls and cooking pots, decorated with glazing that is characteristic of the thirteenth century CE (not drawn), were found on a smooth flat limestone pavement (L7), discovered in the northern corner between Walls 2 and 3.
Two bases of glazed bowls (Fig. 2:1, 2) and a fragment of a krater (Fig. 2:6) that dated to the thirteenth century CE were found on a tamped earth floor (L6) that abutted Walls 2, 3 and 8. Fragments of glazed bowls (Fig. 2:3–5) and a fragment of a jug (Fig. 2:7) that also dated to the thirteenth century CE were exposed on a tamped earth floor that abutted Walls 3 and 4.
The building remains join the rich assemblage of other remains from the Mamluk settlement that existed at the Ramat Yishay site.