Between Safad and Damascus: Excavations at the Village of Naʿarān and Mamluk and Early Ottoman Rural Settlements in the Golan

The preservation of both the landscape and archaeological sites make the Golan a unique case study for examining rural life in the Mamluk and early Ottoman periods. The Mamluk period was the third most densely settled period in the Golan Heights, after the Late Roman and Byzantine periods. Although the number of sites is of prime importance, it is not sufficient for determining the degree of prosperity, as some archaeologists have suggested, or a general decline, as some historians have described. This paper presents our preliminary historical research regarding rural settlement in the Golan and the results of our archaeological excavation at Naʿarān, a village located in the central Golan on the road that connected Safad and Damascus.