During May 2006, two doorjambs of a large gate were documented on Roslan Street in Yafo (Jaffa; map ref. NIG 177070–124/662308–386; OIG 127070–124/162308–386), while inspecting work for the renewal of pavement. The documentation, on behalf of the Antiquities Authority, was conducted by Y. Arbel and K. Eder'i. Professor M. Fischer of Tel Aviv University, M. Peilstöker and T. Shaham of the Tel Aviv-Jaffa Antiquities Museum were consulted with regard to the find.
The development work on Roslan Street is part of an extensive project to rehabilitate and renew the city center of Yafo. The street is located along the northeastern slope of Tel Yafo. The two doorjambs were exposed next to each other inside a mixed soil fill at a depth of 0.4 m below the modern asphalt sidewalk, opposite Sabil Suleiman (Fig. 1). Several potsherds were recovered from the fill, including one fragment from the Ottoman period.
The dressed doorjambs are each carved out of a single block of red granite without decorations. One of the doorjamb, preserved in its entirety (Fig. 2), consists of three parts: a section incorporated in the wall (length 3.77 m, width 0.45 m, thickness 0.3 m), a main narrower recessed section (length 3.77 m, width 0.34 m, thickness 0.22 m) and a round engaged pillar, positioned alongside the opening (length 2.98 m, lower diam. 0.37 m, upper diam. 0.32 m). The two ends of the doorjamb exterior parts become flare slightly. The engaged pillar is shorter than the other two parts and it is reasonable to assume that it was placed on a base and a capital that supported an arch or the lintel in the opening was positioned above it. The second doorjamb (preserved length 2.5 m, preserved width 0.82 m; Fig. 3) is missing one of the ends, the engaged pillar and a section of the middle part. The width of its preserved parts is identical to that of the parts of the complete doorjamb and therefore, it is assumed that the two jambs had originally belonged to the same gate.
Hardly any large architectural elements were discovered in the excavations at Yafo. The origin of the columns, capitals and bases, which are incorporated in the Mahmudiyyeh Mosque, is unclear. Historic evidence shows that the governor Mahmûd Abu Nabut, who built the mosque at the beginning of the nineteenth century, imported to Yafo architectural elements from Caesarea and other Crusader cities. This probably explains how the doorjambs made their way here. They were most likely used as a foundation for the original sidewalk opposite the Sabil Suleiman that was built in 1809, after being rejected for use as doorjambs due to a crack or some other reason.