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■ • V • •*according to Meyers, once stood a explained, was the Greek word for • Several sides 'of the synagogue huge lintel of squared stone bearing an incised, ribbon-like decora-By EARL WOLSLAGEL Duke University News ServiceDURHAM, N.C. - A team of Duke University archaeologists and students has unearthed historically - important structures in Galilee in northern Israel dating from the centuries immediately following ’ the birth of Christ.“Two rich villas and an elaborately decorated synagogue uncovered this summer have thrown new light on the way Jews lived in the first centuries A.D.,” Duke Prof. Eric Meyers says.MEYERS FOUND and later unearthed much of the ancient city of Meiron in expeditions to Israel over the past several years. He just has returned from his seventh consecutive summer expedition there.Meyers also said the finding of a well-preserved street intersection and the unearthing of an entire block In Meiron’s “lower city” led researchers to a large underground reservoir which had a special dripping-hole for drinking water.From this area, Meyers said, came “whole ceramic.vessels and hitherto unknown coin types.” One of the coins, minted in Damascus in the third century, listed Biblical.Gadera and Gerasa as pro vin via Isubsidiaries.“This was the first evidence of these two well-known cities being linked politically, ” Meyers said-Two sites were particular targets of tbis summer’s 100-member Duke summer school expedition — parts of Meiron, abandoned during the •reigh of Constantius II, and a synagogue 7 kilometers to the north of the old city in the dry river Gush Halav canyon. ,•THE C^YON is 2,000 feet below slhe summit ^of-Mt.: Meiron, highest point in JSeKJHx The continuing excavations at Meiron substantiate the theory thatf-v the city was in decline from the 'f start of the Byzantine period (361 A.D.) until the Arab conquest of Israel in 650 A.D., according to , Meyers.“One of the best indicators of this is the steady supply of coins, dating - -from about 200 B.C. to around 1200 • A.D., which were found in our excavations — something like 3,000 of them,” Meyers said.Student volunteers from Duke and Northwestern University's Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary and a senior archaeologist staff of about 25 faculty and graduate students from Duke excavated several patrician houses during the dig.Meyers said two of them probably were the villas of wealthy citizens living along Meiron's ancient “Middle Terrace’* level.ONE OF THE VILLAS was a two-story structure with an open . courtyard, a stairway to an upper level, a pantry, living room and dining room, and a deep storage area beneath.the house..A veranda connected this villa with another.In the first villa, among the most important finds were bone artifacts, great quantities of glass — including two large glass platers — and 20 huge amphora ^pottery storage vessels), most of -.them filled with grain.Three were filled with whole king walnuts from some ancient harvest.Scholars fee! that the villa’s storehouse held supplies for use during Passover.More than 500 coins were found in the villa, the majority dating from the fourth century. These, with other items, provide a striking glimpse into everyday life in that period, Meyers said.Known previously by pilgrims and 19th century scholars, the synagogue at Wadi Gush Halav had been excavated partially and surveyed around the turn of this century by German archaeologists.“THEY PUBLISHED a hypothetical ground plan,” Meyers said, “and made reference, to several important archaeological fragments which : we examined and photographed! this summer.”Over the synagogue’s only entrance along its southern facade,tion,At the center was an eagle, looking downward.The eagle, its feathers, beak and chiseled talons still Intact, Is well-preserved and was returned with the lintel to its original position above the doorway by the project members.Meyers noted, also, that his colleagues lifted from its fallen state a well-known column. It bears the inscription, “Joseph, the son of Nahum, made this... may blessing be upon him.”The entire Gush Halav area, Meyers said, was famous in Talmudic literature for its olive oil industry.When Flavius Josephus commanded the Jewish forces in Galilee (66-68 A.D.), a person known as John of Giscala was a prominent figure.. Giscala, MeyersGush Halav.“JOHN FORTIFIED the city and constantly challenged . Josephus’ command authority in Upper Galilee,” he said.The synagogue is built on amajor tell in the area. It is unique because its major entry door is on the southern side of the building — the side facing Jerusalem,In probing the perimeter of the synagogue to a depth of about eight meters (about 25 feet), the Duke researchers recovered a number of Iron Age lt;8th-9th century B.C.) vessels.They also discovered beyond the main hall, along the southern wall, a small “bemah” or Torah shrine.housed rows of plastered benches.Meyers said that coins and pottery from the area appear to date part of the synagogue at least, lo the early Byzantine period.Of particular interest, he said, are the side corridors o! the synagogue’s western extremity and the rooms which adjoin the building’s northern and eastern sides.“These were apparently storage places,” he said. “But, more significant to our study was the hoard of some 2,OOO coins found almost perfectly preserved in a pottery vessel in the main western corridor of the approximately in x 18 meter (60 sq. ft.) building.
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Danville Register and the Bee
Danville, Virginia, US
Sat, Oct 22, 1977
Page 9
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