Description : Kiryat Ata (Hebrew: קִרְיַת אָתָא; also Qiryat Ata) is a city in the Haifa District of Israel. In 2019 it had a population of 59,030, 92% of whom were Jewish citizens. The Early Bronze Age site at Qiryat Ata has been extensively excavated since 1990, revealing stratified remains from the Neolithic, EB (=early Bronze Age), IB and EB II periods. At Tell el ‘Idham remains from a continuous habitation from the early Bronze Age, through the Persian age down to the Roman era have been identified. Archaeologists Mordechai Aviam and Dan Barag (1935–2009) thought it to be the Capharatha (Greek: Καφαραθ᾽) mentioned by Josephus in the Lower Galilee, one of several views tentatively identified for the site. Rock-hewn winepresses dating to the Byzantine era have been found here. Some have had crosses and Greek letters incised, supporting the theory that there was a Byzantine monastery located in the area. Ceramics from the Byzantine era have also been found here, and a building from the Byzantine or early Islamic period has been excavated. In 1283 it was mentioned as part of the domain of the Crusaders, according to the hudna between the Crusaders and the Mamluk sultan Qalawun. At the time it was called Kafrata. Ceramics from the Mamluk era have also been found here. An excavation at Independence Street, Qiryat Ata, showed nearly continuous settlement dating from the Persian and Hellenistic eras up to the Mamluk era (late eleventh–early fifteenth century CE).
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