A salvage excavation near Jerusalem, during the summer of 2003, identified a monastery of circa. one and a half dunams in size that was active during the sixth and seventh centuries AD. The monastery was built as a closed rectangle oriented northwest-southeast surrounded on four sides by sturdy walls. Adjoining the walls were rooms for various industrial facilities: an olive press, stables and a flour mill. In the monastery's northern portion was a church measuring 9 X 20m., in the center of which a remnant of a mosaic floor was found depicting a deer and an octopus. South of the church was a courtyard within which three entrances to underground burial caves were revealed in addition to a rock-hewn stairway leading out of the monastery complex to an additional burial chamber with eight cells arranged in two parallel rows separated by a corridor. This complex was one of a chain of monasteries surrounding Jerusalem during the Byzantine period. Our present knowledge does not enable an historical identification with any specific monastery from this period, yet a few suggestions are proposed.

The 'Holy Women' in the Liturgy and Art of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Twelfth Century Jerusalem. Forthcoming in: The Uses of the Bible in Crusader Sources, ed. E. Lapina and N. Morton (Brill, 2017) Examines the liturgical allusions to, and visual depictions of the spice-bearing women - also known as the Holy Women or the Three Marys - in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in twelfth century Jerusalem. The examination of the liturgy of the Latin patriarchate of Jerusalem draws its evidence from the breviary (ordinal) of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a manuscript of the early thirteenth century describing the twelfth century offices and festivities. This manuscript is known as the Barletta ordinal, and it is examined in conjunction with similar texts from Jerusalem. Focus is placed on the Easter liturgy with its several mentions of the special sacrificial role of the Holy Women as the first pilgrims to the sepulchre, and first witnesses of the Resurrection. The theme of the 'Visit to the Sepulchre' (Visitatio Sepulchri) seems to have gained further prominence as it was chosen by the early Latin patriarchs of Jerusalem as their signum, and was depicted on artefacts such as pilgrims' flasks. The liturgical choices, as well as the artistic ones are meaningful as they highlight a biblical theme possibly of special import for the first crusaders in their new capital city. This theme was replaced shortly after with the non-biblical scene of the Anastasis type, a meaningful change in itself. The paper also argues for continuity in the significance accorded to the theme of the Holy Women in the liturgy and artefacts from pre-crusade times in Jerusalem. The article will include illustrations.