This paper deals with the dialectics of settlement continuity and change in Palestine's southern coastal plain during the Mamluk and Early Ottoman periods (1270–1750 CE). Using Ḥamāma, an Arab village in Majdal ‘Asqalān's hinterland as a test-case, the paper introduces a new method of establishing settlement continuity — a major challenge in the study of the historical geography of late medieval and Ottoman Palestine, by showing continual presence of known village lineages. The paper presents an integrative, topic-oriented discussion of Ḥamāma's administration, demography, settlement geography, economy, religion, material culture and daily life, as evidenced by literary and archaeological evidence. The paper argues that nomadic economic and security pressures led to a major process of settlement abandonment around Majdal ‘Asqalān, and the southern coastal plain in general, during the seventeenth to eighteenth centuries. The population of abandoned villages moved to surviving settlements, while the lands of abandoned settlements continued to be cultivated by neighboring villages.

本文探讨了马穆鲁克和早期奥斯曼帝国时期（公元 1270-1750 年）巴勒斯坦南部沿海平原定居点连续性和变化的辩证法。本文以 Majdal 'Asqalān 腹地的阿拉伯村庄 Ḥamāma 作为测试案例，介绍了一种建立定居点连续性的新方法——通过展示定居点的持续存在，这是中世纪晚期和奥斯曼巴勒斯坦历史地理学研究的一项重大挑战。已知的村庄血统。本文对哈玛玛的行政管理、人口统计、定居点地理、经济、宗教、物质文化和日常生活进行了综合性、以主题为导向的讨论，并有文学和考古证据为证。该论文认为，游牧经济和安全压力导致了 Majdal 'Asqalān 周围定居点的废弃过程，以及十七至十八世纪期间的整个南部沿海平原。废弃村庄的人口迁移到幸存的定居点，而废弃定居点的土地则继续由邻近村庄耕种。