Description

The archaeological sounding on the site of the Colegio del Pilar in the Old City of Jerusalem in 1996 was a salvage excavation, suspended for administrative reasons. The present publication offers the results of a rare archaeological investigation in the Christian Quarter. A stratigraphic survey showed Ayyubid (XII-XIIIth centuries) occupation on bedrock. Structural remains of the Mamluk period reflected the growth of the city in the XIV-XVth centuries, and a well-preserved stone-built cesspit of this period provided abundant pottery. Most of the volume describes the fully illustrated pottery, organized by stratigraphic context. The Mamluk pottery includes vessels imported from Italy. The analyses of faeces from the cesspit have provided important information on the health of the population at the time. There are reports on the glass, coins and animal bones up to the end of the Ottoman period. The del Pilar volume contributes to the renewed interest of archaeologists and historians in medieval Jerusalem.