Umm el-Manabya/Manabi'

BAP059 JADIS2219.015

Umm el-Manabi' was selected as it lies in the area between Rasoun and Sittat/Maqati', and excavation of a church there indicated that it had potential as a sampling site. The site is located on a hilltop amongst the modern village of Umm el-Manabi'. As such, the site has been impacted upon by modern domestic, agricultural and infrastructure development. The Roman/Byzantine site consists of the remains of a Department of Antiquities excavation in the village on the upper slope of the hill and a light scatter of surface pottery in vacant and agricultural land on the slopes of the hill. The site was surveyed by the BAP Team on 24th November 2008.

View to Ras Herqala (left) and Maqati' (right)

Only one day was allocated to this site as reconnaissance in 2005 and 2008 indicated that there was relatively little pottery available. An initial survey of the vacant and agricultural land on the northern slope of the hill was conducted by the BAP Team by walking transects in an east-west direction with 5 metre intervals.

5x5 before surface pick up

Subsequently, with the assistance of the Department of Antiquities representative, vacant and agricultural land around the village was inspected for surface pottery of the Roman/Byzantine period.