Tel ‘Afar: A Byzantine Site South of Caesarea (pp. 95–118)

Salvage excavations at Tel ‘Afar, about six kilometers south of Caesarea, unearthed remains dating to the Byzantine period. A massive building was exposed, with square towers at its corners, buttresses on each side and two vaulted openings. The finds from the building and around it clearly date to the Byzantine period, but provide no clue to its use or function. Numerous roof tiles, marble fragments and many tessarae were found in all the excavated areas – they might belong to the building revealed during Porath’s excavations at the site, which he identified as a villa belonging to a wealthy citizen of Caesarea; however, it might have been a monastery.