Location

Ramla, located at the middle coastal side, is fifteen kilometers from the Mediterranean Sea and forty kilometers from northwest of Jerusalem. It was located at the low hills which were average from 70 to 95 m above sea level. The site was situated between the Nahal Ayalon and Nahal Soreq river basins (Gutfeld and Nitzan 2010:3). 

Archaeological excavation

The earliest excavation of the area of the White Mosque was conducted in the spring of 1949, directed by Joseph Kaplan whose aim is to determine which structures belonged to the original Umayyad Mosque. In 1965, the excavation in the southwestern Ramla, near the Bar-Giora was carried out and directed by M. Rosen-Ayalon and A. Eitan, on behalf of the Department of Antiquities. In 1973, an impressive mosaic floor was uncovered in the southwestern part of the Old City. While in the north wall of the White Mosque, M. Ben-Dov excavated in 1980. Later from 1990 to 2008, there are approximately 85 salvage excavations and soundings were conducted, but most of them are not continuous (Gutfeld and Nitzan 2010:5-7).

Geology

The geology of the region is characterized by Quaternary formations forming calcareous sandstone (kurkar) ridges, with layers and lenses of red sand and hamra loam, covered with sand dunes, partially overlaid by alluvium (Stern, Toueg and Shapiro 2019:131).

Contributor: Li Xu August 2021