The excavated site is located in the oldest part of Kafr Kanna, near the Greek Melkite Catholic Church and 150 m northeast of the spring in the village center. Previous excavations in Kafr Kanna around the spring area exposed Mamluk and Ottoman remains in the Street of the Churches (Permit No. A-3549). Some other building remains from the Mamluk period were recently excavated in the vicinity of the site (Permit No. A-5083). Near the spring, an important site from the Pre Pottery Neolithic–Early Bronze IA was excavated (Permit No. A-3534).

The excavation area (5 × 6 m; Fig. 1) revealed architectural remains from the Roman (Stratum IV) and Mamluk (Strata III–I) periods.

Stratum IV (Roman period). A fieldstone-built wall (W4) and a tamped chalk layer (L514; Fig. 2) were exposed. The wall was survived by its bottom course and the chalk layer was probably a floor that abutted W4 from the north. The upper layer of the floor was damaged by the Stratum III structure. Only a few bowl fragments that dated to the last phase of the Roman period were found.

Stratum III (Mamluk period). A long wide wall (W1; length 7.1 m, width 1.1 m), oriented east–west and built of fieldstones, was preserved a single course high. A light yellow, beaten-earth floor (L508) that abutted the wall from the north, as well as from the south (L503, L512; Fig. 3), was noted throughout the entire excavation area. This floor was overlaid with a large amount of pottery vessels, mainly glazed ware. Since W1 extended east and west, beyond the limits of the excavation, the two spaces to its north and south must have been large rooms. The structure was built above the Roman remains of Stratum IV.

Stratum II (Mamluk period). A layer of small stones, deposited directly above Floor 508 of Stratum III, was probably used as a foundation for a paved open courtyard (L511; 3 × 4 m; Fig. 4). The single course of W1 was incorporated, in a secondary use, within this courtyard’s pavement. Pavement 511 was preserved well north of W1 and seems to be on a higher level than the top of the wall. The outline of the courtyard could not be detected due to modern disturbances and the limited excavated area. However, the potsherds found on the courtyard floor dated to the Mamluk period.

Stratum I (Mamluk period). A badly preserved wall of three large stones (W3; length 1 m), oriented northwest–southeast, was uncovered within the surface layer in the northeast corner of the excavation. Its foundations were set on a fill (thickness 0.3 m) that covered the Stratum II courtyard. The potsherds found above it dated to the fourteenth–fifteenth centuries CE.

 

The pottery finds retrieved from the excavation reflect the ceramic profile of the three Mamluk strata at the site. The assemblage, typical of the fourteenth–fifteenth centuries CE, included a handmade bowl (Fig. 5:1); unglazed pottery, including a bowl (Fig. 5:2), a krater (Fig. 5:3), a jar (Fig. 5:4) and a jug (Fig. 5:5); cooking vessels, including a glazed carinated cooking bowl (Fig. 5:6) and a handmade cooking pot (Fig. 5:7); a slip-painted bowl (Fig. 5:8), green-glazed bowls of the monochrome class (Fig. 5:9, 10), which are considered as the two main bowl types of the Mamluk period; soft-paste ware (Fig. 5:11) and glazed cups (Fig. 5:12, 13).

The remains of a Roman floor with a few bowl fragments that were exposed in a very limited area do not provide enough evidence to suggest a Roman settlement at the site.  

The function of the fourteenth–fifteenth century CE occupation cannot be precisely understood, due to the poorly preserved walls and floors. The architectural remains in Stratum III seem to belong to a large residential building.

 However, it is noteworthy that the pottery finds include all types of vessels, namely storage, cooking and table wares, as well as a small fragment of a grinding stone that was probably used for the crushing of food. These features point to a domestic occupation. The structure of Stratum III was destroyed and replaced with a stone-paved open courtyard (Stratum II). The fragmentary remains of W3 in the northeast section represent yet another phase and testify to an intensive settlement at the site during the Mamluk period. The site was then abandoned, as happened to the other two Mamluk sites in the village, and covered with fill.

This limited excavation adds little to our present knowledge of the history of Kafr Kanna during the Mamluk period.