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During December 2007, a salvage excavation was conducted at Sulam (Permit No. A-5220; map ref. NIG 23166/72348; OIG 18166/22348; HA-ESI 118, HA-ESI 120), prior to replacing lighting poles. The excavation, undertaken on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority and underwritten by the Israel Electric Company, was directed by E. Amos, with the assistance of Y. Lavan (administration), R. Mishayev (surveying and drafting), M. Hartal (scientific guidance), E.J. Stern (ceramics), H. Tahan (drawing) and D.T. Ariel (numismatics).
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Three squares (A—1.8 × 5.5 m; B—3 × 5 m; C—2 × 4 m; Figs. 1, 2) were opened along the main street of the village, north of the spring. Building remains from the Early Islamic period until the late Ottoman period were exposed, as well as a burnt layer from the end of the Crusader and the beginning of the Mamluk periods. The ceramic finds consisted of potsherds from earlier periods as well, including the Byzantine, Roman and Hellenistic (few) periods, as well as the Iron Age. The core of the village was destroyed and rebuilt over the years; during the last decade, extensive renovations were conducted along the main street of the village, causing damage to ancient remains (HA-ESI 120, HA-ESI 121). This excavation focused on the upper strata of the site.
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Early Islamic period (eighth–tenth centuries CE)
Square A. A level of small fieldstones (L28; Fig. 3), descending southward in the direction of the slope, was discovered. The stone level was covered with a thin layer of brown soil.
Square B. A north–south oriented wall (W27), built of medium-sized basalt stones and preserved two courses high (length 2.3 m, width 0.83 m, height 0.65 m; Fig. 4), was exposed. A channel (L29) built of small and medium fieldstones, was set next to the western face of the wall, which served as its eastern side. A thick burnt layer (L26) covered the wall and the channel.
The ceramic finds recovered from the two squares dated to the Early Islamic period and included glazed bowls of the ninth–tenth centuries CE (Fig. 5:1, 2), a cooking pot (Fig. 5:3) and a jar from the eighth–ninth centuries CE (Fig. 5:4).
Crusader and beginning of Mamluk periods (twelfth-thirteenth centuries CE)
Square A. Collapse of large limestone masonry stones was exposed (L18). A coin (IAA 115433) from the Mamluk period was discovered between them. A thick burnt layer (L19; Fig. 6) located to the north of the collapse consisted of mud-brick material and animal bones; it may possibly point to intensive burning activity inside an oven.
Square B. An installation of mud bricks mixed with chalky material (L13; 0.25 × 0.40 m) was built on a tamped chalk floor (L15) that overlaid the accumulation of brown soil.
Square C. A curved wall (W12; length 2.5 m, width 0.8 m, height 0.8 m; Fig. 7), built of various size dressed limestone and aligned north–south, was exposed. The long side of the stones in the eastern face of the wall was placed facing the exterior. Another wall (W25) that was mostly exposed in the southern balk of the square abutted the eastern side of W12. Two courses were exposed of W25, which was built of roughly hewn basalt stones. It was covered with a layer of gray soil (L17), in which ash and burnt materials were mixed.
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The ceramic finds from these two periods included glazed bowls (Slip Painted Ware; Fig. 5:5), green and yellow glazed bowls, a glazed bowl decorated with incising that dated to the end of the twelfth–beginning of the thirteenth centuries CE (Fig. 5:6), an imported Cypriot bowl that dated to the thirteenth century CE (Fig. 5:7), cooking pots from the twelfth century CE (Fig. 5:8, 9), a cooking pot from the thirteenth century CE (Fig. 5:10) and many Geometric Painted Handmade vessels that dated to the twelfth–thirteenth centuries CE (Fig. 5:11–13).
Late Ottoman period (nineteenth century CE)
Square A. A cluster of stones (L8), some of which were masonry stones and an east–west oriented wall (W3; length 1.6 m, width 0.6 m, preserved height 0.6 m), built of limestone building stones and preserved two courses high, were discovered below the roadbed. The wall was founded on a layer of brown soil (L9) that was uncovered below the cluster of stones.
Square B. An east–west oriented wall (W4; length 2.8 m, width 0.9 m, preserved height 0.45 m), perpendicular to Wall 7 (length 1.8 m, width 0.8 m, preserved height 0.5 m), was exposed below the roadbed.
While dismantling the clusters of stones in Square A and Wall 4 in Square B, potsherds dating to the Late Ottoman period, including Rashaya el-Fukhar and Gaza wares and a pipe, were discovered.
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The excavation exposed sections of Tel Shunam’s later strata that dated from the Early Islamic until the Late Ottoman periods. Most of the finds were from the end of the Crusader and the beginning of the Mamluk periods (twelfth–thirteenth centuries CE). These ceramic finds contained many handmade vessels that were adorned with red-brown painted geometric decorations, which point to a rural settlement on the tell. The thick burnt layer and stone collapse in Square A, which dated to the end of the Crusader and the beginning of the Mamluk periods, are reminiscent of similar finds exposed in a previous excavation on the tell (HA-ESI 121 A-4973). It was gleaned from the current excavation that a hiatus in the settlement occurred between the beginning of the Mamluk period (thirteenth century) and the end of the Ottoman period.
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To view the figures, click on the figure caption
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לגרסה בעברית
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