Trench L

LOCATION:
DIMENSIONS: ca. 7.8 x 7 m
EXCAVATED: 2000
INTERPRETATION: the western half of the nave of the church, which was later turned into open court (atrium)

DESCRIPTION: the excavations exposed well-preserved flagstone pavement which was laid out when the original western part of the church was turned into an open court. Soundings in the pavement have exposed remains of the bedding for the marble pavement of the church's nave. Remains of late occupation of the court (campfires, bones) were also found on the pavement.

FINDS: ceramics dated to the 5th-6th and probably 7th-8th (Umayyad-Abbasid) centuries A.D., also some post-Abbasid, ante-Mamluk ware, large quantities of fragments of the marble furnishing of the early church