Possible Crusader Campsite Found in Israel

TZIPORI SPRINGS, ISRAEL—The Jerusalem Post reports that the site of a Crusader encampment has been identified in northern Israel by researchers led by Nimrod Getzov and Ianir Milevski of the Israel Antiquities Authority. While working ahead of a road construction project, the team plotted the positions of artifacts on the reconstructed medieval landscape. Rafael Lewis of Ashkelon Academic College and Haifa University said Christians and Muslims are known to have camped in the region over a period of 125 years. This site is thought to have been used by Christian Franks for about two months ahead of the battle of Hattin in A.D. 1187, he explained. In that battle, Sultan Saladin reconquered much of the area and Jerusalem. The researchers recovered horseshoe nails, some of which were made locally and some in Europe. “Changing those nails probably represented the main activity in the camp,” Lewis said. “Nobody wanted to find himself in the battle on a horse with a broken shoe.” For more on the archaeology of the Crusades, go to "Reimagining the Crusades."