January 2011
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A salvage excavation conducted near the cemetery of modern Kefar Tavor uncovered the remains of a large building from the Byzantine period, with evidence of a brief reuse during the Mamluk period. The finds included pottery dating to the Byzantine, Early Islamic (the majority), Crusader and Mamluk periods. Four coins were found, covering the Ptolemaic, Byzantine and Crusader-Ayyubid periods. Chronologically meaningful finds were a fragment of a limestone colonette bearing a cross, a marble slab with a decoration in relief and a small bronze hasp decorated with a cross. The items decorated with crosses suggest a Christian population, and the colonette and marble slab are strongly indicative of the presence of a church close by. The building was most probably established as a monastery, possibly in the sixth century CE.