Guide to Sites

050

Abila of the Decapolis

Abila was a member of the Decapolis, a confederation of ten Hellenized cities in northeastern Palestine, in the former territory of the half-tribe of Manasseh (Numbers 32:33–40). Inhabited from about 3500 B.C. to 1450 A.D., Abila is located east of the Sea of Galilee in Jordan, about 75 miles north of Amman. It is mentioned in several ancient sources, including Polybius, Pliny the Elder and the geographer Ptolemy.

The site includes two mounds: Tell Abila on the north and Kirbet Umm el-‘Amad (“Ruins of the Mother of the Columns”) on the south. Among the significant finds are a marble statue of Artemis (first century B.C.), five Byzantine churches (of which a cruciform church has been restored), a cache of early Church-era glass lamps, tombs and a theater. Dig director W. Harold Mare (Covenant Theological Seminary) plans to expand the excavation in 2003 to include remains from the Iron and Bronze Ages as well as from the Roman and Byzantine periods. The excavation is open to visitors “all the time.”

Assawir

Located 8 miles east of Caesarea, Tel Assawir lies on what was once the important Wadi ‘Ara road, the path through the Carmel mountains that Pharaoh Thutmose III took to attack Meggido (c. 1482 B.C.).

In 2001 an excavation under the direction of Adam Zertal (Univ. of Haifa) unearthed a Middle Bronze Age city gate and its associated fortifications. A previous archaeological survey of the site had found figurines, pottery and stone objects from the Bronze and Iron Ages, tantalizing indications of the site’s additional archaeological promise. In the upcoming season Zertal hopes to establish the chronology of the site and to explore further the gate and the fortifications. Visits during the workday and guided tours are available by appointment.

BAR article: Adam Zertal, “Philistine Kin Found in Early Israel,” BAR 28:03.

Bethsaida

The Gospels say that at Bethsaida, birthplace of the apostles Peter, Andrew and Philip, Jesus restored a blind man’s sight (Mark 8:22–26) and fed the multitude (Luke 9:10–17). It is on the eastern bank of the Jordan River just north of the Sea of Galilee.

Because the Romans destroyed Bethsaida during the First Jewish Revolt (66–70 A.D.), the town was lost to the modern world until excavations began there in 1987. No one expected to discover an Iron Age city beneath the famous Bethsaida of Jesus’ ministry, but a four-chambered city gate complex, dating to the 10th century B.C., has been uncovered; it is one of the largest and best preserved Iron Age city gate complexes ever found. Other discoveries include a Roman period bronze incense shovel, a statuette of the Egyptian god Pataekos and a decorated Iron Age stela.

In 2003 codirectors Rami Arav (Univ. of Nebraska at Omaha) and Richard Freund (Univ. of Hartford) plan to expose more of the Iron Age city gate and an area they consider a Hellenistic physician’s clinic. The site is open to the public every day, and guided tours are available by appointment.

BAR articles: Rami Arav, Richard A. Freund and John F. Shroder, Jr., “Bethsaida Rediscovered,” BAR 26:01; Arav and Freund, “The Bull from the Sea: Geshur’s Chief Deity?”, “Prize Finds” BAR 24:01; “Prize Find: An Incense Shovel from Bethsaida,” BAR 23:01; Arav, “Prize Find: An Iron Age Amulet from the Galilee,” BAR 21:01.

Capernaum

Capernaum, on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee, is 7 miles north of Tiberias and figures prominently in all four Gospels (Matthew 4:13, 8:5, 11:23, 17:24; Mark 1:21, 2:1; Luke 7:1; John 4:46, 0516:16, 24, 59). During the early Roman period it was an important border village between Galilee and the Golan, and Jesus probably lived there during some part of his Galilean ministry. The Gospels report that Jesus had a close relationship with four prominent, wealthy families from the upper part of the city. An excavation in 1978–82, directed by Vassilios Tzaferis, uncovered the foundations of large villas, a Roman bath, shops, fish pools and coins.

In fall 2003, Tzaferis and Charles Page, both of the Jerusalem Center for Biblical Studies, will return to excavate at Capernaum, focusing on the first-century A.D. ruins along the shoreline near the wall that separates the part of Capernaum held by the Greek Orthodox Church from the part held by the Franciscan order. The dig team will expand the excavation of the Roman bath and the villa adjacent to it. Their long-term goal is to uncover information about the lives of the wealthy citizens of Capernaum and Jesus’ relationship to them. Visitors are welcome any time the team is in the field.

BAR articles: Mendel Nun, “Ports of Galilee,” BAR 24:01; John C.H. Laughlin, “Capernaum from Jesus’ Time and After,” BAR 19:05; Herold Weiss, “Gold Hoard Found at Capernaum,” BAR 09:04; James F. Strange and Hershel Shanks, “Synagogue Where 053Jesus Preached Found at Capernaum,” BAR 09:06; Strange and Shanks, “Has the House Where Jesus Stayed in Capernaum Been Found?” BAR 08:06.

Har Karkom

Dig director Emmanuel Anati (Centro Camuno di Studi Preistorici, Brescia, Italy) suggests that this mountain in the Negev Desert is the site of Biblical Mt. Sinai. Whether or not he is right, past excavations at Har Karkom have yielded ample evidence that the mountain was an important Bronze Age “high place.” A Paleolithic shrine (c. 30,000 B.C.) and numerous altars and ceremonial sites point to ongoing ancient cultic activity at Har Karkom. Bronze Age geoglyphs (large pebble drawings) appear to depict offerings to an entity in the sky.

The 75-square-mile area around the mountain boasts 40,000 petroglyphs, the largest concentration of rock art in the Negev, and almost 900 archaeological sites. The 2003 expedition will dig at selected sites, continue the archaeological survey of the area and record rock art. The team camps at the foot of the mountain, and conditions can be harsh. The site is open to visitors during the dig season; guided tours are available on request.

BAR articles: Emmanuel Anati, “Prize Find:30,000-Year-Old Sanctuary Found at Har Karkom,” BAR 19:01; Israel Finkelstein, “Raider of the Lost Mountain,” BAR 14:04; Anati, “Has Mt. Sinai Been Found?” BAR 11:04.

Hazor

Hazor, about 20 miles north of the Sea of Galilee, figures prominently in the Hebrew Bible. According to Joshua 11:1–13, the king of Hazor, Jabin, organized a league of kingdoms to do battle with the Israelites, who were then encroaching on northern Canaan. The Israelites resoundingly defeated their opponents and burned Hazor. Solomon apparently rebuilt Hazor (1 Kings 9:15), which disappears from the Biblical record after the Assyrian conquest in 732 B.C. (2 Kings 15:29).

Hazor also appears in extra-Biblical sources. -The Egyptian Execration Texts (c. 19th-18th centuries B.C.) curse Hazor as an enemy of Egypt, and an 18th-century B.C. Babylonian tablet reports that Hammurabi’s ambassadors resided in Hazor.

Excavators have found a Middle Bronze Age Canaanite palace and cultic buildings, Israelite and Canaanite fortifications and an Israelite administrative building, along with clay tablets, sculptures and jewelry. In 2003 dig director Amnon Ben-Tor (Hebrew Univ.) will expose a larger portion of the Middle Bronze Age palace and fortifications. The site is a national park, open to visitors daily. Guided tours are not available.

BAR articles: Amnon Ben-Tor, “Excavating Hazor,” Part 1, BAR 25:02, Part 2 (with Maria Teresa Rubiato), 25:03; Ben-Tor, “Big Game Hunting: The Lion of Hazor,” BAR 24:01. 1998; Bonnie Rochman, “The Pride of Hazor: Lion Statue Regains Its Long-Lost Mate,” Strata, BAR 23:06; Dan P. Cole, “How Water Tunnels Worked,” BAR 06:02; Yigael Yadin, “Hazor and the Battle of Joshua—Is Joshua 11 Wrong?” BAR 02:01; Yohanan Aharoni, “Hazor and the Battle of Deborah—Is Judges 4 Wrong?” BAR 01:04.

054

Hippos (Sussita)

Founded by the Seleucids during the Hellenistic period, Hippos (Sussita in Aramaic) was part of the Decapolis (mentioned in Matthew 4:25; Mark 5:20, 7:31), a federation of cities in northeastern Palestine (modern Jordan). Hippos, located a mile east of the Sea of Galilee, was first excavated in the 1950s, when several Byzantine churches, including an impressive cathedral, were uncovered. Archaeologists also laid bare the city’s colonnaded main street, a nymphaeum (fountain), a Roman forum and numerous other architectural remains that indicate that Hippos was an important town during the Roman era. Director Arthur Segal (Univ. of Haifa) plans to explore the Roman city center and a Hellenistic structure at the site that might be a temple. Hippos is open to visitors year-round, but guided tours are not available.

BAR article: Vassilios Tzaferis, “Sussita Awaits the Spade,” BAR 16:05.

Khirbat al-Mudayna

At the Iron Age tell of Khirbat al-Mudayna (about 30 miles south of Amman, Jordan), excavations have exposed a casemate wall system, a six-chambered gate and a small temple. The walls of the gate are similar in style to gates at Megiddo and Hazor and are preserved to a height of more than 6 feet. Iron Age finds from the temple include female and 055zoomorphic figurines and limestone altars with painted designs. Moabite inscriptions on pottery sherds have also been discovered.

In the 2003 season the dig directors, Michèle Daviau (Wilfrid Laurier Univ.) and Christopher M. Foley (Univ. of Saskatchewan), hope to finish excavating the front of the six-chambered gate, the pillared building and the Nabatean house. The site is open to visitors during the dig season, and guided tours are available by appointment.

BAR articles: P.M. Michèle Daviau and Paul-Eugène Dion, “Moab Comes to Life,” BAR 28:01.

Kinneret

Tell el-Oreimeh/Tel Kinrot (ancient Kinneret) is on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee controlling the ancient route of the Via Maris. In 2002 impressive remains of a large Early Iron Age town were discovered by a European expedition under the direction of Jürgen Zangenberg, Juha Pakkala and Stefan Münger. The town encompassed up to 20 acres and was massively fortified at the beginning of the 11th century B.C. An earthquake destroyed it but it was immediately rebuilt, with huge terraces along the slope and an elaborate street and drainage system. The rich ceramic repertoire includes unique storage jars that show strong connections to the eastern shore of the lake and southern Syria. Other finds point to trade relations with the wider Mediterranean and Egypt. All this indicates that Kinneret was a major political and economic center in northern Palestine at the close of the second millennium B.C.

The scheduled 2003 dig will concentrate on the living quarters and a possible public building dated to Iron Age I, which were discovered on the eastern slope by Ground Penetrating Radar. The remains of Bronze Age towns mentioned in Egyptian sources will be explored and a survey will be conducted in the plain of Ginnosar, which is mentioned in the New Testament and rabbinic literature.

Kursi

Christian tradition identifies Kursi with the country of the Gerasenes, where Jesus healed two demoniacs by casting 056their “unclean spirits” into a herd of swine (Matthew 8:28–34; Mark 5; Luke 8:26–39). Located just east of the Sea of Galilee, the site has yielded the remains of the largest known Byzantine monastery in the Holy Land. Kursi was apparently an important pilgrimage site for Christians of the Byzantine empire; the gospels of Matthew and Mark indicate that it was the first place where the ministry of Jesus was introduced to the Gentile world.

In 2001 the excavation team discovered a Byzantine bath complex complete with drain pipes, underground heating system and pools, with additional rooms uncovered in 2002. Previous excavations have also revealed a fifth-century A.D. chapel paved with three layers of mosaics. In 2003, volunteers working under director Charles Page (Jerusalem Center for Biblical Studies) will expand their excavation of the bath complex and hostel. As part of Israel’s national parks system, Kursi is open to visitors year-round. Guided tours are also available.

BAR article: Vassilios Tzaferis, “A Pilgrimage to the Site of the Swine Miracle,” BAR 15:02.

Mezad Hazeva

Some excavators think this desert site about 60 miles southeast of Beer-Sheva may be the town of Tamar, which guarded the southern boundary of King Solomon’s empire and served as a tax station for caravans traveling from the east to the Mediterranean. Tamar is mentioned in a list of cities where King Solomon carried out construction (1 Kings 9:18), and also in Ezekiel 47:18–19, 48:28. Three Iron Age II fortresses, built on top of one another, have come to light, as have an Edomite shrine and a Late Roman fort (used throughout the fourth century A.D.) that had a bathhouse and palaestra (a Greek or Roman school for sports, such as wrestling). Excavation during the 2003 season (beginning at the end of January, so sign up soon!) will focus on consolidating and conserving the late Roman bathhouse and fort. Yigal Israel and Tali Erickson-Gini, of the Israel Antiquities Authority, hope to uncover more of the city in order to restore it as a national park.

057

Omrit

Like many archaeological sites, Omrit was discovered by accident: A devastating 1998 fire in the northeastern Galilee revealed an ancient building complex not far from the modern city of Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel. The ornate Corinthian capitals and other massive architectural elements that were strewn on the ground, plus what looked like an eastern entrance to a building, convinced dig directors Andrew Overman and Jack Olive (both of Macalester College) that this was a temple complex almost certainly from the Roman imperial period. In 1999 their team uncovered a bright white limestone podium in the building and, in 2000, an older podium buried inside it of ashlar construction reminiscent of Herodian architecture. Not one, but two successive temples had stood on the same spot. Pottery and coins date the earlier temple to the last quarter of the first century B.C. and the later temple to the late first or early second century A.D. The directors now believe that the beautiful imperial public building they have uncovered may be the temple Herod erected in honor of the Roman emperor Augustus in the area of Banias, as chronicled by the Jewish historian Josephus.

In 2003 the team will continue excavating the temple complex, especially the well-preserved temple cella (central cult room). Reconstruction and preservation of the Roman temple will continue. The site is open to visitors by arrangement with the director.

Petra

A popular site for visitors, Petra is approached through a narrow ravine that abruptly opens to a dramatic tableau of an entire city carved into towering sandstone cliffs. Although it was occupied from the Iron Age to the 20th century, Petra, which lies 50 miles south of the Dead Sea in Jordan, is best known as the capital of the Nabateans, who settled there during the Hellenistic and early Roman periods (200 B.C.-100 A.D.). The site is also associated with the Biblical city of Sela, in the land of the Edomites (Judges 1:36; 2 Kings 14:7).

The site includes the Temple of the 058Winged Lions (the most important Nabatean temple yet discovered), the Treasury of Pharaoh (a spectacular edifice carved into a cliff wall), a Roman-style theater and a necropolis. Excavations in 2003, directed by Philip C. Hammond (Arizona State Univ.), will continue excavating the Temple of the Winged Lions, focusing on its conservation and reconstruction. Guided tours of Petra are available and the site is open to visitors all year from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.

BAR articles: Hershel Shanks, “The Petra Scrolls,” BAR 23:01; Avraham Negev, “Understanding the Nabateans,” BAR 14:06; Philip C. Hammond, “New Light on the Nabateans,” BAR 07:02 and Judith W. Shanks, “A Plea for the Bedoul Bedouin of Petra,” BAR 07:02.

Tel Rehov

The Canaanite city of Rehov is mentioned in Egyptian sources dating to the New Kingdom (15th-12th centuries B.C.). Occupied from the Middle Bronze Age to the Iron Age, Rehov may shed light on the political and social situation in Israel during the time of the United Monarchy. Excavations have revealed the remains of a well-planned Iron Age city (destroyed by the Assyrians in the eighth century B.C.), as well as large, well-preserved buildings, clay figurines and a tenth-century B.C. pottery cult stand.

In the upcoming season dig director Amihai Mazar (Hebrew Univ.) will continue excavating the large buildings in this Iron Age city. Located two miles south of Beth-Shean in northern Israel, Tel Rehov is open year-round to visitors for self-guided tours.

BAR article: Amihai Mazar and John Camp, “Will Tel Rehov Save the United Monarchy?” BAR 26:02.

059

Sepphoris

Christian tradition points to Sepphoris, a mere 4 miles northwest of Nazareth, as the birthplace of Mary, mother of Jesus; the Jewish historian Josephus called Sepphoris “the ornament of all Galilee.” In the first century A.D. Sepphoris served briefly as the capital of the Roman district of Galilee. Later it was the seat of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish high court, and the home of Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi (Judah the Prince), who compiled the Mishnah, a compendium of rabbinic law, in about 200 A.D.

Among the most important finds at Sepphoris are beautiful mosaics (including the so-called “Mona Lisa of the Galilee”), a Roman villa, a large theater, a civic basilica, an aqueduct, two baths, a Roman tower, synagogues, private residences and a row of shops along one of the city’s colonnaded streets. The site is a national park, open to visitors year round. Zeev Weiss (Hebrew Univ.) will direct dig activities during the 2003 season, focusing on the excavation of several public and private buildings in lower Sepphoris.

BAR articles: Lucille A. Roussin, “Helios in the Synagogue,” BAR 27:02; Zeev Weiss, “The Sepphoris Synagogue Mosaic,” BAR 26:05. See especially July/Aug. 2000 “Spotlight on Sepphoris” issue, including Mark Chancey and Eric M. Meyers, “How Jewish Was Sepphoris in Jesus’ Time?”; Tsvika Tsuk, “Bringing Water to Sepphoris”; Hanan Eshel and Eric M. Meyers, “The Pools of Sepphoris—Ritual Baths or Bathtubs?” See also Ehud Netzer and Zeev Weiss, “New Mosaic Art from Sepphoris,” BAR 18:06; Richard A. Batey, “Sepphoris—An Urban Portrait of Jesus,” BAR 18:03; “Mosaic Masterpiece Dazzles Sepphoris Volunteers,” BAR 14:02.

Sha’ar Hagolan

Sha‘ar Hagolan’s excavators have called the site, located a mile south of the Sea of Galilee, a “prehistoric art center” because of the abundance of figurines produced there by a Neolithic people belonging to the Yarmukian culture. The finds include anthropomorphic figures made out of river cobbles and unique figurines made of clay and stone, including a very large female figure, possibly a goddess (featured in WorldWide, BAR 25:03). Excavators have also uncovered monumental courtyard houses, the earliest street in Israel, decorated pottery vessels, flint tools and arrowheads, stone bowls and numerous lithics. Codirectors Yosef Garfinkel (Hebrew Univ.) and Michele Miller (Boston Univ.) hope to uncover more remains of the monumental courtyard building. The nearby Kibbutz Sha‘ar Hagolan has a museum largely devoted to finds from past digs. The museum is open to visitors daily between 9 and noon. Guided tours are not available.

BAR article: Yonathan Mizrachi, “Mystery Circles,” BAR 18:04. See also Yosef Garfinkel and Michele Miller, “The Yarwhosians?” in AO 03:03.

Zayit (Zeitah)

Tel Zayit (Arabic: Zeitah) lies 30 miles to the east of Ashkelon in an area rich in olive orchards. Volunteers have discovered a large Late Bronze Age public building or palace and have studied a massive destruction level also dating to the Late Bronze Age. Significant destruction was found at the Iron Age II (ninth century B.C.) level that is thought to be associated with an invasion by Arameans.

In 2003 dig director Ron E. Tappy (Pittsburgh Theological Seminary) will continue to explore and clarify the extent of these destruction levels; he also plans to focus on the dimensions of a late Roman fortress at the site. Tel Zayit is open to visitors by appointment and guided tours are available.