ISRAEL: Archaeologists uncover mosaics revealing details of a 1500 year old Byzantine church in Israel

Record ID: 397990

  • Title: ISRAEL: Archaeologists uncover mosaics revealing details of a 1500 year old Byzantine church in Israel
  • Date: 23rd January 2014
  • Summary: ALUMA, ISRAEL (JANUARY 22, 2014) (REUTERS) ARCHAEOLOGICAL DIG AT SITE OF NEWLY DISCOVERED BYZANTINE CHURCH ARCHAEOLOGISTS AT DIG/RESTORATION EXPERTS CLEANING MOSAIC RESTORATION EXPERT REMOVING SUBSTANCE WHICH HELPS CLEAN MOSAIC VARIOUS OF RESTORATION EXPERTS CLEANING MOSAIC (SOUNDBITE) (English) ARCHAEOLOGIST WITH THE ISRAEL ANTIQUITIES AUTHORITY, DOCTOR DAVIDA DAGAN, SAY
  • Embargoed: 7th February 2014 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: History,Religion,Science
  • Reuters ID: LVA77YG2V0X62JE8HNLCYRDQETJ8
  • Story Text: Archaeologists carrying out excavations ahead of new construction work in Israel have discovered an ancient Byzantine church thought to be around 1500 years old.
    Excavating land intended for a park of a new neighbourhood at the village of Aluma about 70 kilometres south-west of Jerusalem, the archaeologists discovered a mosaic floor. This convinced them they had found a church they had long believed might be in the area.
    But as archaeologist Doctor Davida Dagan said on Wednesday (January 22), it wasn't yet clear how significant the discovery might be.
    "It's quite confusing at the beginning. Because you see a mosaic and you can't see the design. Because it's so dirty and and you have the mud which is stuck to it. And we have to be careful that it doesn't stick to our shoes and we don't take it apart as we're working. So it takes time until we understand the magnitude of what we're seeing," she said.
    Keen to share their discovery, the archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority are opening the site to the public on Thursday (January 23) and Friday (January 24) even as excavation work is continuing.
    Restoration experts are still working to reveal the detail of the mosaic floor, which they hope will tell them more about the church's history.
    "We got here just yesterday to clean the mosaic and as you see there is a lot of work that is still to do. And we hope that we'll find another things," said Shmulik Freireich.
    Head of the excavation Doctor Daniel Varga said Wednesday was the first opportunity for his team to see all of the inscriptions written in the mosaics.
    "It's a nice feeling because when you start the digging you never know exactly what are you going to find. We've got the signs here and there and you have expectations, and we think maybe this, maybe that. But only when the work is on, you start - the earth starts revealing itself," he said.
    So far, the inscriptions have revealed information about when the church was built, as well as the names of some of the church leaders and major donors to its construction.
    Varga said it's likely the church served a very large community.
    "The site tells us that this church is a very big church with beautiful mosaics and we think that this church served the population of the whole area, not only the settlement in which the building is built was served," he said.
    Previous excavations in the area have revealed a number of Byzantine communities from the same period, but so far no churches have been found amongst them. The archaeologists believe the size and nature of this latest discovery indicates the importance of the building's role in the region.
    The Authority says the church was 22 metres long and 12 metres wide consisting of a central hall and two side aisles divided by marble pillars. A courtyard at the front of the building was paved with a white mosaic floor, while the mosaic in the main hall includes vine tendrils forming 40 medallions. These contain depictions of different animals and geometric designs, some with Greek inscriptions naming church dignitaries. Other mosaics display Christian symbols.
    Dagan says such excavation work is essential.
    "It's part of our heritage. It's part of the history of what was going on, also in Israel, but also the Byzantine era and the Empire...excavation is definitely needed and important because...at times we have things which would be ruined, that they would be destroyed, we would never be able to reconstruct them, we would never be able to go back and see what we're missing. And we're again, fitting in pieces into the history of all of us," she said.
    Once on-site excavation work is complete, the mosaics will be removed from the site so they can be reinforced, and then made available for display to the public in museums or universities. A protective covering will be put over the site before it is re-covered with earth to ensure its preservation. If it is ever decided that the site should be re-opened to the public it can be uncovered and the mosaics restored to their original location.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2014. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register