During October–November 2007, a salvage excavation was conducted on Smolenskin Street in Ramla (Permit No. A-5283; map ref. NIG 187448–76/649176–209; OIG 137448–76/149176–209), in the wake of construction work. The excavation, undertaken on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority and underwritten by H. Mu‘alem, was directed by R. Korin, with the assistance of E. Bachar (administration), M. Kunin (surveying and drafting) and T. Sagiv (field photography).
Two half squares were opened, revealing meager architectural remains that attest to settlement or agricultural activities along the southeastern fringes of the city of Ramla in the Abbasid period (Fig. 1).
A north–south oriented wall (W105; length c. 2.5 m, width c. 0.5 m) that had survived by a single course of small fieldstones (size up to 9 cm) was exposed in Square A. Northwest of the wall, a habitation level (L104), which contained a few lumps of charcoal and fragments of pottery vessels from the ninth century CE, including a krater (Fig. 2:6) and juglet (Fig. 2:10), was exposed. The layer of fill (L107) beneath Level 104 contained a number of pottery fragments, including a cooking pot (Fig. 2:5) that dated to the ninth century CE.
A north–south oriented wall (W102; length c. 1.2 m, width c. 1 m, height 0.5 m), built of medium-sized fieldstones (length c. 15 cm) and preserved five courses high, was exposed in Square B. The wall was probably a terrace wall. The layers of fill (Loci 103, 106) to the south of the wall contained fragments of bowls (Fig. 2:1, 3).
Mixed ceramic finds were discovered on surface (Loci 100, 101), including bowls (Fig. 2:2, 4), a jar (Fig. 2:7), a jug (Fig. 2:8) and a lamp fragment (Fig. 2:9) that dated to the ninth–tenth centuries CE.