חוקוק – 2014: דוח ראשוני [Huqoq – 2014: Preliminary Report]

During the month of June 2014, a fourth season of excavations was conducted at Horbat Huqoq in eastern Galilee (License No. G-16/2014; map ref. 245198/754556; Magness 2012; Magness et al. 2013; Magness et al. 2014). The excavations were undertaken and underwritten by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Brigham Young University (Utah), Trinity University (Texas) and the University of Toronto (Canada). Additional funding was provided by Dumbarton Oaks (Washington, D.C.), The Foundation for Biblical Archaeology (S. Bishop) and private donors. The excavation was directed by J. Magness, with the assistance of S. Kisilevitz (assistant director), M. Golan (administration), C. Spigel, M. Grey, and B. Gordon (area supervision), T. De’adle (consultant on the modern village), B. Coussens (assistant area supervisor), J. Bucko (surveying), J. Haberman (field photography), M. Robinson-Mohr (registration), D. Schindler (ceramics), K. Britt (mosaics), M. Belmaker (rodent remains), J. George (paleobotany), C. Swan (glass), N. Elkins (numismatics), P. Flesher (computer data and educational program), R. Mohr (drawing), V. Pirsky (drafting), O. Cohen (site conservation) and M. Lavie (cleaning and conservation of artifacts). Most of the volunteers were undergraduate and graduate students from the U.S.A. and Canada

The Huqoq Excavation Project : 2014-2017 interim report

Excavations at Huqoq in Israel’s eastern Lower Galilee are bringing to light a Late Roman synagogue, a medieval public building, and the remains of ancient and modern (pre-1948) villages. In this interim report, we describe the major discoveries of the 2014–2017 seasons, including the extraordinary figural mosaics decorating the synagogue floor. Our discoveries provide evidence of a Galilean Jewish community that flourished through the 5th and 6th centuries c.e.—a picture contrasting with recent claims of a decline in Jewish settlement under Byzantine Christian rule. The possibility that the medieval public building might also be a synagogue has important implications for understanding Galilean Jewish settlement in the Middle Ages, about which almost nothing is known. The excavations also shed light on the last phase of the settlement’s long history: the development of the modern village of Yakuk in the 19th through 20th centuries.peer-reviewe

A typology of the late Roman and Byzantine pottery of Jerusalem

This study represents an attempt to establish a ceramic typology for the coarse wares of Jerusalem from the fourth through seventh centuries C.E. The typology is based on the study of unpublished ceramic material from the excavations of the late Y. Shiloh in the City of David and of N. Avigad in the Jewish Quarter. Two main bodies of ceramic types can be distinguished during the period of time studied. The first corpus, for which the term late Roman is suggested, is characteristic of the fourth to sixth centuries C.E. These types were replaced in about the middle of the sixth century C.E. by a new ceramic repertoire that remained current through the seventh century C.E. The term Byzantine is suggested for the mid-sixth through seventh century C.E. corpus of types. This typology is then applied to an examination and re-evaluation of the stratigraphic and ceramic sequences published from the excavations of Saller at Bethany, Crowfoot and Fitzgerald in the Tyropoeon Valley, Hamilton against the north wall of Jerusalem, Aharoni at Ramat Rahel, and Tushingham in the Armenian Garden. The application of the typology to the material published from these excavations confirms the validity of the suggested ceramic sequence and clarifies the chronology of the occupation of these sites. A strong degree of regionalism is apparent in the corpus of late Roman and Byzantine ceramic types characteristic of Jerusalem, which appears to be indicative of a strong and vigorous local economy. After the legalization of Christianity by Constantine, Jerusalem benefited both from imperial favor and from Christian pilgrimage. This had an impact on all aspects of the local economy, including the ceramics industry. The Christian community in Jerusalem continued to prosper after the conquest of Jerusalem by the Moslems in 638 C.E. through the Omayyad period, while the city benefited from the attention of the Omayyad caliphs

A typology of the late Roman and Byzantine pottery of Jerusalem

This study represents an attempt to establish a ceramic typology for the coarse wares of Jerusalem from the fourth through seventh centuries C.E. The typology is based on the study of unpublished ceramic material from the excavations of the late Y. Shiloh in the City of David and of N. Avigad in the Jewish Quarter. Two main bodies of ceramic types can be distinguished during the period of time studied. The first corpus, for which the term late Roman is suggested, is characteristic of the fourth to sixth centuries C.E. These types were replaced in about the middle of the sixth century C.E. by a new ceramic repertoire that remained current through the seventh century C.E. The term Byzantine is suggested for the mid-sixth through seventh century C.E. corpus of types. This typology is then applied to an examination and re-evaluation of the stratigraphic and ceramic sequences published from the excavations of Saller at Bethany, Crowfoot and Fitzgerald in the Tyropoeon Valley, Hamilton against the north wall of Jerusalem, Aharoni at Ramat Rahel, and Tushingham in the Armenian Garden. The application of the typology to the material published from these excavations confirms the validity of the suggested ceramic sequence and clarifies the chronology of the occupation of these sites. A strong degree of regionalism is apparent in the corpus of late Roman and Byzantine ceramic types characteristic of Jerusalem, which appears to be indicative of a strong and vigorous local economy. After the legalization of Christianity by Constantine, Jerusalem benefited both from imperial favor and from Christian pilgrimage. This had an impact on all aspects of the local economy, including the ceramics industry. The Christian community in Jerusalem continued to prosper after the conquest of Jerusalem by the Moslems in 638 C.E. through the Omayyad period, while the city benefited from the attention of the Omayyad caliphs