Table 1. Excavations at Ramla (South)
 
Publication
Area
Permit/License
Institute
Excavator
Survey
A-3784
IAA
O. Shmueli and T. Kanias
 
A–C
A-4144
 
IAA
 
A. Gorzalczany
A, B
Y. Zelinger
Salvage Excavation Reports 5
HA-ESI 121
A
A-4507
B-298/2005
B-306/2006
Tel Aviv University
O. Tal and
I. Taxel
 
B
A-4454, A-4674, A-4725
IAA
A. Onn
C
A-4739
IAA
A. Gorzalczany
A1, B1
A-4910
IAA
A. Gorzalczany
 
C
B-299/2005
Bar Ilan University
R. Avisar and
J. Uziel
E
 
A-5168
IAA
A. Gorzalczany
F
Tel Aviv University
O. Tal and
I. Taxel
G, H
A-5311
IAA
A. Gorzalczany
H, I, J, K
A-5331
IAA
A. Gorzalczany
 
G, H1, K1, P, Q, R, S
 
M, N
B-326/2008
Tel Aviv University
O. Tal, I. Taxel, L. Yehuda and Y. Paz
 
T
A-5473
IAA
A. Gorzalczany
Area B1 was expanded and sixteen squares were excavated. Two new excavation areas were opened: Area C1 (five squares) and Area D (ten squares). Remains attributed to the Byzantine period (fourth–fifth centuries CE; Stratum IV), the Late Byzantine period and the transition phase to the Umayyad period (seventh century CE; Stratum IIIB) and the Early Islamic period (eighth–eleventh centuries CE; Strata IIIA-I) were discovered.
 
Area B. The remains in this area were ascribed to Strata IV–I. Intensive plundering of building stones in antiquity characterized the area, leaving behind numerous robber trenches. However, a careful excavation of the trenches enabled us to reconstruct the plans of some of the buildings and insulae. Numerous floors and habitation levels were evident throughout the area; some consisted of tamped earth and others were plastered. Large white tesserae (size up to 4×4 cm) were found scattered on some of the surfaces and these were probably the floors of industrial installations. As was the case in other excavated areas of the site, it was clearly evident that this area too was planned deliberately and the buildings in all the strata were oriented north–south and east–west.
 
Numerous square and rectangular installations (length 0.8–3.5 m), built of small and medium fieldstones and coated with several layers of gray plaster, were discerned in the area. It was apparent that many of them had gone through repairs and their size was frequently reduced by building partitions; this phenomenon was noticed in previous excavation seasons. Four jars, some of them intact, were found in situ next to one of these installations; one of the jars was found sealed with a stopper (Fig. 1). The proximity of these jars and others to installations reinforces the identification of the area as an industrial zone. Further evidence of such use was manifested in the network of channels that connected the installations; some channels drained into circular domed cisterns of various diameters. A rectangular water reservoir covered with a vault was also revealed (Fig. 2).

Area C1. Industrial installations that were ascribed to Strata IIIB–IIIA were discerned in this area. Several rooms whose walls were built of different size ashlar stones and roughly dressed fieldstones were exposed. Installations of various sizes, similar to those in Area B, were located between the rooms. A few habitation levels that consisted of a thick burnt layer were noted. Evidence of intense fire was also revealed along a floor section, built of large flat flagstones. On the floor, which did not abut any wall and was not related to the plan of the buildings, were remains of glass production, suggesting that the fire was somehow related to this craft.
Part of a pottery kiln was exposed. Alongside the kiln were two pits that contained a large quantity of kiln debris and wasters, mostly fragments of cooking pots. These vessels dated to the transition phase between the Byzantine and Early Islamic periods.
 
Area D. The exposed remains in this area were ascribed to Strata IV–I. Part of a large building (min. dimensions 9×11 m; Fig. 3), attributed to Strata IV and III, was revealed. Its exterior walls were built of finely dressed ashlar stones, with stone column bases, in secondary use, incorporated between them. A series of stone floors and plastered habitation levels, which abutted the walls, had each negated its predecessor, testifying to the many repairs and renovations that had taken place throughout the long period of the structure’s use. An especially large and well-preserved tabun (diam. 1.3 m; Fig. 4) was installed in a Stratum IV habitation level, in the eastern part of the building. The latest paved floor of the building, which dated to the Umayyad period (Stratum IIIA), was meticulously constructed from flat stone slabs (average size 0.3×0.5 m). This floor was laid atop a thin accumulation of clay that was devoid of any finds, suggesting a short hiatus in occupation between Stratum IIIB and Stratum IIIA, which was not noted in other areas. Two circular installations (presumed diam. c. 3 m) that were partially exposed outside the building, at the western end of the area, also belonged to this stratum. The purpose of the installations, built of mud bricks and plastered, is unclear. However, a probe excavated in a floor section and the sides of one installation (Fig. 5) revealed seven layers of plaster that testified to repeated repairs. The remains from Stratum II (ninth–tenth centuries CE) included sections of plaster floors, robber trenches and remains of narrow water conduits, built of stone and extremely fragmented, which were not sufficient for a comprehensive plan.

The small finds from the excavation comprised various pottery vessels (Fig. 6), including intact vessels and ceramic zoomorphic vessels, glass bottles (Fig. 6), metal artifacts, bronze weights in different sizes and weights, some spherical and others barrel-shaped, thirty-two bronze coins that have not yet been identified and an incense burner made of steatite, which is not indigenous to the geology of the region (Fig. 7).