Ancient Jewish village found in Galilee
Uncovered site includes ancient synagogue, houses and evidence of pottery production, says Samford University professor who led archaeological dig
An archaeological dig led by a professor from Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama has uncovered the remains of an ancient Jewish village in Israel.
Samford Prof. James Riley Strange said the site of the village in Galilee includes an ancient synagogue, houses and evidence of pottery production in the old Jewish village of Shikhin. The site is about five miles northwest of Nazareth.
Strange told Al.com that the site teaches about Galilean Jewish village life and its economy at the birth of both Christianity and the Judaism of the Talmud.
The village was apparently abandoned in the mid-fourth century.
Ancient synagogue (Photo: Shikhin dig delegation)
Volunteers digging in Shikhin (Photo: Shikhin delegation)
The excavations at Shikhin is a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional, international, cultural heritage project whose goal is the recovery and preservation of the site of Shikhin in the Lower Galilee of Israel. Samford University is the primary sponsoring institution.
Professor Strange serves as director. Associate directors are Professor Mordechai Aviam of Kinneret College and the Institute of Galilean Archaeology in Israel, and Professor David Fiensy of Kentucky Christian University in the United States.
The archaeology is done by volunteers from all over, many of them students from Samford University, Centre College, University of South Florida, and Kinneret College. No experience is necessary in order to participate.
Ynetnews contributed to this report
