Vandals set fire in March to a building in the Beth-Shean national park that housed archaeological finds from the site. The building, which itself dates to the eighth century A.D., was used to store objects from the Roman-era city and from earlier cities on the impressive mound beyond the Roman remains. Although the most important pieces had all been removed to Jerusalem for storage or display, the loss is still considerable.
Gaby Mazor, who currently heads excavations at the site for the Israel Antiquities Authority, told the Jerusalem Post that the “thousands upon thousands” of finds stored at the site—pottery, marble, glassware and various metal and bone items—formed the basis of his work and that of several others since the excavations began in 1986. “This is my life’s work,” he said, “so you can imagine how I feel.”
Gideon Foerster, chairman of the Hebrew University department of archaeology and a former excavator at Beth-Shean, was somewhat more upbeat. He said that although the fire was certainly a loss, it wasn’t a “great drama.” He said his team had already completed work on the material it had excavated and so its work had not been greatly damaged, although it was too early to make a complete assessment. Yoram Tsafrir, Foerster’s former colleague at the dig, noted that although they had already completed their work on the finds, the loss means that no one can review their work, nor could anyone do further studies on the artifacts.
Vandals set fire in March to a building in the Beth-Shean national park that housed archaeological finds from the site. The building, which itself dates to the eighth century A.D., was used to store objects from the Roman-era city and from earlier cities on the impressive mound beyond the Roman remains. Although the most important pieces had all been removed to Jerusalem for storage or display, the loss is still considerable. Gaby Mazor, who currently heads excavations at the site for the Israel Antiquities Authority, told the Jerusalem Post that the “thousands upon thousands” of finds stored at the […]
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