Publication of the Excavations at Binyanei Ha'uma (National Convention Centre), Jerusalem
Haim Goldfus and Benny Y. Arubas

The site of Binyanei Hau'ma (map ref. 1693/1326) is located ca. 3 km west of the old city of Jerusalem. The late Prof. Avi-Yonah conducted two salvage excavations, limited in scope, on the fringes of the site in 1949 and 1967. However, the excavation we conducted in the course of 1992 was the most extensive and comprehensive dig of the site, covering ca. 5000 sq. meters at the heart of the site. It revealed artifact-rich stratigraphy, and architectural elements for establishing the sequential history of the site.

The archaeological remains of the site attest that it was occupied from Iron Age II until the Abbasid and Mamluk periods. The majority of the remains. unearthed at the site in the course of the excavations, belong to three major phases: early Roman (Herodian), late Roman, and early Byzantine. The remains included army barracks, agriculture installations, various water installations and conduits, potter's kilns, and remains of a monastery.

The importance of the site, however, lies in the discovery, in the last excavation, of a large ceramic production and industrial area belonging to the Tenth Roman legion Fretensis. It comprises a clay-preparation area; a potter' workshop (with one potter's wheel still in situ); a drying area; and a row of massively built kilns where many types of earthenware products were made. The finds also included hundreds of bricks and roof tiles, many stamped with legionary designs and inscriptions, and two exceptionally rare examples of stamps made of clay for implementing pottery; one of them bears the letters LXF. So far as we are aware, such as kilnworks, belonging to the Roman army, has not previously been excavated in the eastern Roman empire, and even in the west it is rare.

In spite of the significant of the excavation, it was very poorly budgeted. Therefore, the diverse assemblage of pottery from the Second Temple period, the unique repertoire of military-associated ceramic collection of the late Roman period, the numerous stamped and non-stamped bricks and roof tiles made by the Tenth legion, the special glass finds and numerous coins, and the unparalleled architectural features of the site, have been, so far, only partially processed and analyzed. The proposed project is intended to bring the results of this excavation to a final publication.