ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

Earliest art in the British Isles discovered on Jersey

Earliest art in the British Isles discovered on Jersey

Experts have found out what they think might be the first works of art in the British Isles. A team of researchers from across the UK have uncovered prehistoric designs on 10 stone fragments, thought to be somewhere between 14,000 and 23,000 years old.

At the archaeological site of Les Varines in the southeast of Jersey, fragments thought of as part of ornamental tablets or plaquettes were discovered.

Experts believe that the Magdalenians, early hunter-gathers who lived in Europe towards the end of the last ice age, have made abstract engravings.

The findings are published in the journal Plos One.

Dr. Chantal Conneller, a senior lecturer at Newcastle University and one of the authors on the study, said: “These engraved stone fragments provide exciting and rare evidence of artistic expression at what was the farthest edge of the Magdalenian world.

“The people at Les Varines are likely to have been pioneer colonisers of the region and creating engraved objects at new settlements may have been a way of creating symbolic relationships with new places.”

Some possible interpretations of engravings on one of the plaquettes

The Magdalenian era is thought to represent the culmination of cultural development in Europe around 18,000 years ago.

From cave art and tools, weapons and decorations to engravings on animal bones and teeth, examples of Magdalenian art have been found in various parts of western Europe.

Plaquettes made by Magdalenians have also previously been uncovered at sites in France, Spain and Portugal.

While Magdalenian settlements are known to have existed as far as North West Britain, it is the first time artistic stone engravings from this era have been discovered in the British Isles.

The researchers analysed the Les Varines plaquettes, which revealed groups of fine lines that, they believe, were purposefully made using tools made of stones.

The ornamental work also features curved markings, possibly made through repeated incisions. According to the researchers, the two types of marks may have been created using the same tools, possibly by the same engraver and in short succession.

Lead author Dr Silvia Bello, a researcher at the Natural History Museum in London, said: “Microscopic analysis indicates that many of the lines, including the curved, concentric designs, appear to have been made through layered or repeated incisions, suggesting that it is unlikely that they resulted from the stones being used for a functional purpose.

“The majority of the designs are purely abstract, but others could depict basic forms such as animals, landscapes or people.

“This strongly suggests that the plaquettes at Les Varines were engraved for purposeful artistic decoration.”

The team excavate Magdalenian hearths – or camp fires – at Les Varines in Jersey

The plaquette fragments were found in an area thought to have been used as a hearth, while three of the pieces were recovered from an area of granite slabs which may have served as paving.

Dr Ed Blinkhorn, senior geoarchaeologist at University College London and director of excavations at the site, who is also one of the study authors, said: “The plaquettes were tricky to pick apart from the natural geology at the site – every stone needed turning.

“Their discovery amongst hearths, pits, paving, specialist tools, and thousands of flints shows that creating art was an important part of the Magdalenian pioneer toolkit, as much at camp as within caves.”

EUROPE, ROMANIA, WORLD

1,500-Year-old lost Roman city of Altinum rises again as aerial maps reveal detailed street plan

1,500-Year-old lost Roman city of Altinum rises again as aerial maps reveal detailed street plan

This had been one of the Roman Empire’s richest cities. But when the mighty Germanic Emperor Attila the Hun started his assault in AD452, Altinum’s inhabitants began their great escape and fled.

The once-bustling metropolis, regarded by some scholars as to the forerunner of Venice, gradually sank into the ground and into obscurity. But now, thanks to sophisticated aerial imagery, the lost city has been brought to life once again more than 1,500 years on.

From the ground, the 100-hectare site just north of Italy’s Venice airport looks like nothing more than rolling fields of corn and soybeans. But researchers have managed to map out the remains of the buried city, revealing a detailed street plan of the city walls, the street network, dwellings, theatres, and other structures.

Archaeologists have produced aerial images using sophisticated technology revealing a detailed street plan of the ancient lost Roman city Altinum

They also show a complex network of rivers and canals, revealing how the people mastered the marshy environment in what is now the lagoon of Venice.

In July 2007 Paolo Mozzi, a geomorphologist at the University of Padua in Italy, and his team took aerial photos of the site in several wavelengths of visible light and in near-infrared.

The photos were taken during a severe drought in 2007, which made it possible to pick up the presence of stones, bricks and other solid structures beneath the surface. When the images were processed to tease out subtle variations in plant water stress, a buried metropolis emerged.

The researchers discovered that the crops planted on the land were in different stages of ripening, thanks to differences in the amount of water in the soil. Lighter crops traced the outlines of buildings – including a basilica, an amphitheater, a forum, and what may have been temples – buried at least 40 centimeters below the surface.

To the south of the city centre runs a wide strip of riper crops. They were growing above what clearly used to be a canal, an indication that Venice’s Roman forebears were already incorporating waterways into their urban fabric.

The authors note that Altinum, a trading centre that thrived between the 1st and 5th centuries AD, is the only large Roman city in northern Italy – and one of the few in Europe – that has not been buried by medieval and modern cities.

The map has enabled the researchers from the University of Padua in Italy to plot out the city walls, the street network, dwellings, theatres, rivers and canals

Some scholars have described the historic city as the precursor to ancient Venice.

The first century Roman historian Strabo mentions Altinum’s important location with its heavily travelled sea routes and roads running north to the edges of the Roman Empire making it a critical mercantile centre.

But as waves of barbarians invaded, Altinum was a ripe target and, finally, in the 7th century AD, a Lombard invasion pushed the city’s remaining residents onto the surrounding islands of the Venice lagoon.

Most of the ancient city’s stones were stolen in the Middle Ages to be reused elsewhere. Land-reclamation efforts in the 19th century turned the area from marsh into farm fields.

Previous archaeological excavations have focused mainly on the city’s necropolis, located outside the walls, but this is the first-ever glimpse of the city’s layout. Local officials are enthusiastic about the study, which was published in the Science journal.

‘Before what Professor Mozzi has done, it was impossible to imagine the complexity and distribution of the main buildings and structures of the municipium,’ Margherita Tirelli, inspector of the Archaeological Superintendence of Veneto and director of the National Archaeological Museum of Altinum told the journal.

Mozzi and his team are planning further survey work, including scans of the area with a remote-sensing technology known as LIDAR, which will help create a higher-resolution topographic map of the site.

The team also plans to sample soil at the site to see whether environmental conditions, such as flooding or drought, might have contributed to Altinum’s abandonment.

The images will help archaeologists pinpoint the best locations for future excavation.

EUROPE, TURKEY, WORLD

The archaeological team uncovers massive Roman mosaic in southern Turkey

The archaeological team uncovers massive Roman mosaic in southern Turkey

An archeological team from a University of Nebraska – Lincoln has discovered a huge Roman mosaic in southern Turkey — a meticulously crafted, 1,600 square feet of decorative handicrafts constructed during the imperial zenith of the region.

The Roman mosaic measures approximately 25 x 7 meters and served as the forecourt for the adjacent large bath. Hoff’s team unearthed about 40 percent of the mosaic this summer and hopes to uncover the rest of the mosaic next summer.

It is believed to be the largest mosaic of its kind in the world and reveals the magnitude and cultural impact of the Roman Empire in the third and fourth centuries A.D., said Michael Hoff, professor of Art History at Hixson-Lied at United Nations Local University and curator of the excavation.

“Its large size signals, in no small part, that the outward signs of the empire were very strong in this far-flung area,” Hoff said. “We were surprised to have found a mosaic of such size and of such caliber in this region — it’s an area that had usually been off the radar screens of most ancient historians and archeologists, and suddenly this mosaic comes into view and causes us to change our focus about what we think (the region) was like in antiquity.”

Since 2005, Hoff’s team has been excavating the remains of the ancient city of Antiochia ad Cragum on the southern Turkish coast. Antiochus of Commagene, a client king of Rome, founded the city in the middle of the first century.

“This region is not well understood in terms of history and archaeology,” Hoff said. “It’s not a place in which archaeologists have spent a lot of time, so everything we find adds more evidence to our understanding of this area of the Roman Empire.

“We’re beginning to understand now that it was more Romanized, more in line with the rest of the Roman world than was suspected before. (The nature of the mosaic) hammers home how Roman this city truly is.”

Antiochia ad Cragum had many of the trappings expected of a Roman provincial city — temples, baths, markets, and colonnaded streets, said Hoff. The city thrived during the empire from an economy focused on agricultural products, especially wine and lumber.

Enormous Roman Mosaic Unearthed in Turkey

Excavation has focused on a third-century imperial temple, and also a street lined with shops. In July, the team began to explore the mosaic, which was part of a Roman bath. The decoration consists of large squares, each filled with different colored geometric designs and ornamentation.

“This would have been a very formal associated pavement attached to the bath,” Hoff said. “This is a gorgeous mosaic, and its size is unprecedented” — so large, in fact, that work crews have uncovered only an estimated 40 percent of its total area.

Hoff said it appears the mosaic served as a forecourt for the adjacent large bath, and that at least on one side, evidence shows there was a roof covering the geometric squares that would have been supported by piers. Those piers’ remains are preserved, he said.

Meanwhile, the middle of the mosaic was outfitted with a marble-lined, 25-foot-long pool, which would have been uncovered and open to the sun. The other half of the mosaic adjacent to the bath is expected to contain similar decoration, Hoff said. Crews expect to unearth the entire work next summer.

Team members first noticed the mosaic in 2001 when a large archaeological survey project that included Hoff noticed a local farmer had plowed up pieces of a mosaic in a field next to a still-standing bath structure.

The find was brought to the attention of the archeological museum in Alanya, which two years later made a minor investigation that revealed a small portion of the mosaic.

Last year, the museum invited Hoff to clear the mosaic and to preserve it for tourists and scholars. Hoff’s 60-person team also included Birol Can, assistant professor of archaeology at Atatürk University in Erzurum, Turkey, a sister university to the University of Nebraska; students from UNL; other students from Turkey and the United States; and workers from a nearby village. About 35 students participated in the project as part of a summer field school Hoff runs.

Phalin Strong, a sophomore art major from Lincoln, said the work was difficult but satisfying.

“It is strange to realize that you are the first person to see this for centuries — a feeling that also made me think about impermanence and what importance my actions have on humanity and history,” Strong said.

Ben Kreimer, a senior journalism major, agreed: “(Working on) the mosaic was great because the more soil you removed, the more mosaic there was,” he said. “Visually, it was also stunning, especially once it got cleaned off. It wasn’t very deep under the surface of the soil, either, so … we had to be careful not to swing the handpick too hard so as not to damage the priceless mosaic that lay just inches beneath us.”

Hoff said the significance of this summer’s discovery has him eager to return to the site and see what the rest of the excavation uncovers.

EUROPE, WORLD

Roman Temple Foundation Uncovered in Malta

Roman Temple Foundation Uncovered in Malta

Sections of the Tas-Silġ temple flooring.

The Times of Malta reports that work to restore a collapsed eighteenth-century farmhouse at Tas-Silġ, an archaeological complex on Malta’s southeastern coast, has uncovered the foundations of a Roman temple.

The farmhouse’s bricks were laid directly on the well-preserved Roman foundation.  Plans to construct a small visitors’ centre at the Tas-Silġ archaeological complex have gone back to the drawing board after excavations uncovered parts of a renowned Roman temple which has been described as a highly significant find.

Heritage Malta had originally planned to restore a partially collapsed 18th-century farmhouse and last year, together with the Department of Classics and Archaeology at the University of Malta, embarked on a four-week investigation of the archaeological merit of the site, which is close to Żejtun and overlooks Marsaxlokk.  

“The farmhouse was built on a corner of the temples, so the chance of finding remains at the site was always very high, but it was never investigated thoroughly,” David Cardona, senior curator of Phoenician, Roman and Medieval Sites, told Times of Malta.

“Thanks to the excavation work we carried out with the students, we realized that the remains underneath the farm were highly valuable and that’s when the project changed from fixing up the farmhouse to working to uncover what was left at the bottom.”

A single room, whose original roof and walls are still intact, has been left as a reminder of the farmhouse.

Saviour Formosa, of the Department of Digitalisation, constructed a 3D model of the remaining structure, which will eventually be incorporated into an interactive model allowing people to see what the site looked like at various points in its millennia-long history.

The model is made available through the collaboration between Heritage Malta and SintegraM program.  This program, driven by Formosa, seeks to develop spatial data and enhance geo-spatial capacities in Malta and its impact on social wellbeing. 

Maxine Anastasi, of the Department of Archaeology and Classics, said that students in their key formative training were fortunate to have the opportunity to excavate a slice of “untouched archaeology”.

“We were able to find a corner wall, complete with opus signinum flooring, that formed part of the temple,” Anastasi told Times of Malta.

Opus signinum, or cocciopesto in contemporary Italian, is a composite ancient Roman building material that combined broken pottery and crushed lime which hardened into durable flooring material. Finding foundations intact as we have here is really a very significant find

“Instead of building directly on the ground, particularly where the rock was fragile, the Romans would dig trenches and place large limestone ashlar blocks to raise a platform,” she said.

“Based on the trenches that we’ve found here, which gives us an idea of the foundation and floor levels of the temple, we can imagine a large colonnaded peristyle with a sizable façade.”

Students on-site during excavation works.

Unfortunately, Anastasi adds, the multi-period use of the site over thousands of years saw the disappearance of stones that made up the body of the temple’s architecture, likely re-used throughout and still a part of surrounding dwellings and agricultural structures in the area.

“Malta is densely populated, with lots of buildings with a lot of history. Archaeology tended not to survive, so finding foundations intact as we have here is really a very significant find.”

The investigation into the site also uncovered the history of the farmhouse, likely built in the late 1700s, bringing new insight into how locals reacted with the site throughout different periods. 

“Through old property maps we were able to trace all the original rooms and the full structure, deducing that it was built over one corner of the original temple,” Anastasi says.

“We were lucky that when the farmhouse was being built, they didn’t actually destroy anything they found there, but dismantled and cleared the surface, laying their bricks directly onto the Roman foundations.”

Given its layers of rich historical importance, was there a reason why so many cultures were drawn to Tas-Silġ?

That, Anastasi explains, could be the million-dollar question.

“Contemporarily, we can think of places like Mdina and Rabat where we are aware that our current cities are built on top of older ones with countless heritage sites and have been pretty much constantly inhabited for thousands of years,” Anastasi says.

“While there’s still uncertainty as to whether Tas-Silġ was constantly inhabited in between periods, there is no doubt that it is not only an important sanctuary site for the Punic period in Malta but one of the very few internationally known sanctuaries across the Mediterranean and throughout the Punic world.”

EUROPE, POLAND, WORLD

Unique 3,500-year-old Pig Figurines Discovered in Poland

Unique 3,500-year-old Pig Figurines Discovered in Poland

During excavations at a Bronze Age house in a settlement surrounded by Europe’s oldest monumental stone wall, two clay-pig figurines dating back 3,500 years were uncovered.

The discovery by archaeologists on Zyndram’s Hill in Maszkowice (Małopolska) has been hailed as a rare find as they are the first of their kind.

Research leader Dr. Marcin S. Przybyła from the Institute of Archaeology of the Jagiellonian University said: “These are the first such find of zoomorphic figurines, that is, ones depicting animals.”

He added that the artefacts are small, only a few centimetres long, but very carefully made, with anatomical features, including nipples.

One is brighter, pale brown in colour, the other was fired to be quite dark. In the case of the latter, the animal’s nose is brighter. According to the archaeologist, this is probably accidental, but thanks to this the figurine becomes even more realistic.

He said: “There is no discussion as to what kind of animal it is. You have to remember that pigs back then looked more like wild boars than modern-day domesticated pigs.”

Each of the figurines was made in a slightly different style, in a different manner, as if they were made by two different people.

Presentation of the archaeological find in the form of 3.5 thousand years old pig figurines, August 13th, Maszkowice (Małopolska). This is quite a rare find. The settlement where the discovery was made is surrounded by a stone wall, which is unique for settlements from this period in this part of Europe.

The figurines were inside the relics of a hut, just a metre apart. 

The discovery was made in a residential house from the early Bronze Age (approx. 3,500 years old). There were many animal bones (of pigs, cattle and predators) in the building, clearly more than in other structures identified so far within the fortified settlement. 

The arrangement of post-pits, whose task was to support the roof, was also surprising – three of them were right next to each other.

The house was probably rectangular or square (the size of a typical cottage in this place is 6 by 6 m or 8 by 6 m). Its walls were made of a lightweight braided structure covered with a thick layer of clay. The wall could be about 20 cm thick.

According to Przybyła, the figurines could have been used as children’s toys or cult objects.  Archaeologists are continuing restoration work within the walls of the settlement which was discovered a few years ago.

Dr Przybyła said: “The fortifications defending the settlement are more than two and a half thousand years older than the monuments of Romanesque architecture. Thus, it is the oldest example of a stone wall in the history of construction in Poland.”

This year’s research shows, among other things, that the walls were built on large, flat sandstone slabs (approx. 1.6 m long), which formed a perfectly flat surface.

According to the researcher, they look like screed and it is clear that the fortifications were made in a very thoughtful way, and the builders had experience in similar projects.

Equally, old stone structures are not known in this part of Europe. Researchers are convinced that the know-how associated with their construction came with settlers from the Mediterranean or the Adriatic zone.

Further evidence of this is the discovered fragments of ceramic vessels. Their forms indicate contacts with the communities living in the middle Danube basin.

According to researchers’ estimates, the settlement was suddenly abandoned ca. 1550-1500 BC. However, there are no traces of an invasion or disaster.

While there was a large fire more or less in the middle of its functioning, the wooden houses were later rebuilt. They were larger than the previous ones, but fewer of them were erected.

ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

Roman Artifacts Recovered in Northwest England

Roman Artifacts Recovered in Northwest England

Chester, England—Deeside.com reports that a Roman game piece and other artifacts were uncovered in an area slated for redevelopment in the walled city of Chester, which was founded as a Roman fort in A.D. 79.

First Archaeological finds revealed from Chester Northgate site including a gaming piece

Researchers at Chester Northgate’s £ 70 m building site have discovered Roman artifacts, including what is thought to be a rare gaming piece made from bone.

A highly polished piece with a lozenge-shaped shape, probably from use, is approximately 29mm long and features a common Roman decoration of a ring and dot motif.

Experts link this to the game of Ludus Latrunculorum, meaning the Game of Mercenaries, which was a two-player military strategy board game played throughout the Roman Empire, similar to draughts.

Finding it in part of a legionary barracks in Chester would back up this theory. Other artefacts found to date include another bone artefact, possibly a comb; a possible spearhead; and a pin or broach.

With the Northgate scheme well underway, contractor VINCI Construction UK and archaeologists Oxford Archaeology, have been carefully excavating to find signs of Roman life and other historical artifacts.

However, despite all of the activity on site at present, the construction will not result in any major intrusion into the important archaeological remains which remain undisturbed as the works proceed.

The new buildings have been carefully designed to avoid disturbance of archaeological remains as far as possible and a comprehensive mitigation strategy overseen by Historic England is in place to ensure intrusions into the most sensitive strata are kept to an absolute minimum.

Councillor Richard Beacham, Cabinet Member for Housing, Regeneration and Growth, said: “Chester is truly alive with history, and it is pleasing to see such interesting artefacts unearthed as we begin the long-awaited construction at Northgate.

“We will be treading very carefully to protect the sensitive archaeological remains on the site and we will be adding anything we find to our impressive collection of Roman artefacts at the Grosvenor Museum.”

Andrew Davison, Historic England’s Inspector of Ancient Monuments for the North West recently visited the Northgate site to inspect the work to date. He said: “Chester residents are unusually knowledgeable about the City’s heritage, including its archaeology, so these finds will excite great interest.

“They speak volumes about the quality of the archaeology we are dealing with at this very significant site and I look forward to seeing more finds from the site as work continues.”

EUROPE, ITALY, WORLD

Chinese skeletons found in roman cemetery promise to rewrite history

Chinese skeletons found in roman cemetery promise to rewrite history

They were two powerful, ancient empires separated by more than 5,000 miles of imposing mountain ranges, barren desert, and exposed steppe grasslands.

Yet a collection of seemingly unremarkable bones discovered in a Roman cemetery in London has provided new insights into the links between the Roman Empire and Imperial China.

Analysis has revealed that two skeletons dating from between the 2nd and 4th Century AD unearthed at the site in the city’s Southwark area may have been Chinese.

Analysis of skeletons found in a Roman cemetery in south London (pictured) has revealed that two of the people buried there between the 2nd and 4th centuries AD had Asian ancestry and were possibly from China. It provides new evidence of the links between the empires

The findings promise to rewrite the history of the Romans as it suggests these two great empires had far greater connections than previously believed. While it is known that there was extensive trade between China and ancient Rome along what became known as the Silk Road, the two empires are thought to have viewed each other warily.

Accounts from the time suggest the Chinese were curious about the ‘tall and virtuous’ people of Rome, while the Romans found their rivals in the east mysterious but valued their silk cloth.

Despite the trade between the empires, however, only one person of Asian ancestry has ever been found on sites dating back to the Roman Empire – an adult man unearthed at Vagnari in Italy.

But now research led by the Museum of London has revealed two more individuals of Asian ancestry, buried among the remains of other citizens of ancient Londinium. According to the Times, while experts have not been able to identify their exact origins, it is likely these people had come from China.

Writing in the Journal of Archaeological Science, Dr. Rebecca Redfern, an archaeologist at the Museum of London, said how they ended up there is a mystery.

She and her colleagues said: ‘The expansion of the Roman Empire across most of western Europe and the Mediterranean, led to the assimilation and movement of many ethnically and geographically diverse communities.

Archaeologist Rebecca Redfern (pictured right) and her colleagues say Londinium may have had a far more flourishing community of immigrants than previously believed. Among the skeletons were those from north Africa, including a young girl (pictured left)

‘Its power and wealth meant that it also had trade connections for raw materials and products, such as silk throughout Europe, Africa and also to the east, including India and China.

‘Many people travelled, often vast distances, for trade or because of their occupation, for example in the military, or their social status, for example, if they were enslaved.’

However, other skeletons found in the same cemetery reveal another intriguing possibility. Forensics experts at Michigan State University matched the shape and morphology of 22 skulls found at the site to their ancestry.

It suggests at least four of the skeletons were from Africa while two were Asian. Isotope analysis also suggested that five of the individuals appear to have come from the Mediterranean. It suggests that the bustling suburb of London to the south of the River Thames had enjoyed a rich immigrant population who seemed to have a similar status to locals living in the area, at least in death.

This raises the possibility that perhaps these Chinese visitors had in fact settled in the area, even setting up their own trade in the busy heart of Roman Britain. While it may never be possible to unravel exactly what they were doing there, Dr. Redfern and her colleagues say it was clear there were more foreigners in Europe than had been previously realized.

Archaeologists unearthed around 22 skeletons at the site in Lant Street, Southwark (pictured)
Londinium (artist’s impression) was the center of the Roman empire in Britain, but across the river to its south was a small suburban area that would later become Southwark

They are hoping that DNA analysis of some of the remains might help to further unravel some of the ancestries of those who were buried in Southwark. For example, it may reveal whether the individuals had been relatively new arrivals from their distant lands or were the offspring of people who had been brought to Britain as slaves.

The remains of one teenage girl who was found at the site were also discovered with an ivory folding knife carved into the shape of a leopard.  Similar styles of knives have been found to be linked to Carthage.  Isotopes from her teeth suggested she had grown up in North Africa, suggesting she had been brought to London after growing up in Africa.

However, DNA tests revealed the teenager had blue eyes and a maternal ancestry that could be traced to south-eastern Europe and west Eurasia, at the eastern fringes of the Roman Empire. It is possible she had been a slave captured during one of the many wars between Rome and Carthage, say the archaeologists. 

At the time when the people are thought to have lived, the Roman Empire was at its peak before it split into two halves.  China was in the hands of the Han Dynasty, considered to be the most prolific period of cultural and technological advances in the ancient empire.

Writing in the journal, Dr. Redfern said: ‘It may well be that these individuals were themselves or were descended from enslaved people originating from Asia, as there were slave-trade connections between India and China, and India and Rome.’

Isotope analysis has also provided some clues about the diets of those buried in the cemetery. Dr. Redfern and her colleagues added: ‘Diets were found to be primarily C3-based with limited input of aquatic resources, in contrast to some other populations in Roman Britain and proximity to the River Thames.’ 

ASIA, ISRAEL, WORLD

1,300-year-old colorful mosaics Discovered by Archaeologists in Israel

1,300-year-old colorful mosaics Discovered by Archaeologists in Israel

The remains of a 1,300-year-old church in the Circassian village of Kfar Kama in Israel were discovered by archeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority and Kinneret Academic University.

“The church measures 12 by 36 m (39.4 by 118 feet) and includes a large courtyard, a narthex foyer, and a central hall,” said Dr. Nurit Feig, an archaeologist at the Israel Antiquities Authority.

Actually, the excavators suspect the villagers carried out their devotions at a smaller local church with two chapels in the village dating to about the same time, which had been discovered half a century ago. The newly discovered, rather bigger edifice may have been a monastery, the archaeologists think, based on adjacent rooms that remain underground after being discovered by Shani Libbi using ground-penetrating radar.

Kafr Kama’s proximity to the iconic site of Mount Tabor – where some believe Jesus underwent the Transfiguration and began to radiate light – piqued the interest of Archbishop Youssef Matta, the head of the Greek Catholic Church in Israel. He was invited by the Israel Antiquities Authority and came to see the site in person.

“And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart; And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light” – Matthew 17:1.

The main body of the newly discovered church is 12 by 36 meters (39 by 118 feet), which is medium-sized for the region, says Prof. Moti Aviam of the Kinneret Academic College, who is researching the Byzantine period in the Galilee and is collaborating with the Israel Antiquities Authority on this dig.

The discovery of the church was not expected, said Nurit Feig, the archaeologist leading the excavation on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority. “This was a small salvage excavation that we expanded,” she told Haaretz. Usually, a salvage excavation of this sort is defined in scope, but then she began to see the border of the nave wall and an apse – and realized they were on top of an ancient church. Now they know the area includes a courtyard, a narthex foyer, a central hall, and three apses. Churches in the Galilee normally have one or three apses, Feig and Aviam explained.

Wondrously, the archaeologists also found a reliquary: a stone box used to hold “sacred relics.” Sad to relate, it was empty. “The other ancient church found in Kafr Kama also had a reliquary, a closed one, that had bones inside,” Aviam said.

“In light of our many studies in Israel in general and the Galilee in particular, we know there were a lot of village rural monasteries. The monks weren’t hermits like in the desert monasteries. They lived alongside the villages, sometimes inside the villages, with villagers working at the monastery,” Aviam said. He added that they have no proof this new discovery is actually a monastery – no inscriptions have been found, for instance. But that’s his gut feeling.

Nor is there evidence for how the monks made their living if monks there were. It has been found that at other Galilean monasteries, the monks engaged mostly in agriculture, producing olive oil and wine, Aviam said.

Church or monastery, it had mosaics on the floor of the nave and apses, which is very much the norm for the Galilean churches. But they were badly damaged, Aviam said. All we can see are geometrical motifs and some flowers in blue, black, and red, but there may have been other images that are now gone.

Mosaic floor of the Byzantine-period church at Kfar Kama, Israel.

Faith in the Galilee

In fact, the two sixth-century churches of Kafr Kama fit the bigger picture that Aviam is discovering in his research of the Byzantine Galilee, conducted with Jacob Ashkenazi of the Kinneret Institute of Galilean Archaeology in the Kinneret Academic College. In Western Galilee alone, there are about 100 churches from the Byzantine time, very roughly speaking, Aviam told Haaretz.

The western side of the Upper Galilee was actually Christianized in the Byzantine period while the eastern side was Jewish, he explained. Down in the Lower Galilee, the towns were almost entirely Jewish, but Christianity gradually penetrated – resulting in villages like Kafr Kama, with its two churches. Or one church and one monastery.

The attraction for early Christians in the Galilee included the city of Nazareth: Jesus was reportedly born in Bethlehem, but grew up in the Galilee. Nazareth was actually mixed during the Byzantine period, Aviam said – Jewish with some churches. Like so many places in the region, occupation in the town now known as Kafr Kama goes back to the Bronze Age, and possibly earlier. But we may never know (much) more about the Christian era in this village.

This very week, the mosaics are going to be re-blanketed on earth for the sake of their conservation, Feig told Haaretz. That will protect them for the future masses that will probably never see them. The site is earmarked for a playground, and unless the local council and Jewish National Fund change their minds, a playground it will be.

“We can’t say at this stage how much may be covered and if anything will be preserved,” Feig said. The IAA may warmly recommend that the site be conserved, preserved, and opened for visitors; but the initiators of the real estate project in the village have the ultimate decision, she explained. And if they decide to preserve the ancient church or monastery, whichever it is, then the IAA experts can happily get to work.

The first church from early Christianity found in the Circassian village is also gone, partly covered, partly built over, the archaeologists say. Discovering the new one was an emotional moment for the excavators and villagers alike, who flocked to see it during the “open days” the archaeologists held – joined by the archbishop.

Asked why there was so much excitement if there are around 100 ancient churches in the Galilee, Feig said that this one is in a quite good state of preservation after all those 1,400 years: they know where all its parts are. But they may remain the only ones with that knowledge.

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