Season 9 — Week 1, Day 1: Fire Dangers lead to Tour Day

Ancient Synagogue

I received a text a 4:20AM from Motti that the National Parks Authority did not want us to dig today. There were still active fires at el Araj, and there was concern about our safety from weakened eucalyptus trees. We had to quickly pivot to a touring day for the volunteers. In the morning we traveled to the Golan Heights where we were invited to join in a tour with the Albright Insititute visiting the site of a Roman period village and synagogue led by the excavation director, Dr. Mechael Osband. The synagogue is a very interesting find that has challenged some assumptions regarding synagogues in the Golan in the Roman period. Afterwards we continued to Ein Keshatot (Um el-Kanatir) and its reconstructed 5th century Byzantine synagogue. After lunch I took the group to one of my favorite places in the north, the nature reserve of Tel Dan. In the heat of the afternoon it was refreshing to walk along rushing streams fed by the springs from under Mount Hermon, even in drought with lush vegetation, and its rich archaeology: the Israelite kingdom's sacrificial altar built by King Jereboam and the mud brick arched gate complex from the time of Abraham (ca. 1750 BCE). While we were touring the Israeli archaeological team acquired the necessary tools for resuming our work, and the Parks Authority gave us permission to begin digging tomorrow morning. Under the conditions our focus these two weeks will be limited to the area around and within the church and the front lawn of a gentleman who used to live at the site. An electromagnetic scan (like GPR) from 2019 indicates that there is a very large structure under the ground. We hope to find what it was in these two weeks. Stay tuned.

— R. Steven Notley, Academic Director

Roman Mosaics

Burned Container Interior