A team of experts and students led by University of North Carolina professor Jody Magness at Chapel Hill discovered an impressive mosaic panel in a late Roman (circa 400 AD) synagogue in Hukok, an ancient Jewish village in Lower Galilee, Israel. A panel displaying the authors or artists of the mosaic adorns the floor next to the main entrance.

Magness, along with Dennis Mizzi, Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies at the Kenan Carolina College of Arts and Sciences and Deputy Director of the University of Malta, focused on the south side of the synagogue’s main hall, or nave, in this 11th and final season of the Hukok excavations. .

The recently discovered mosaic consists of a large panel with a mysterious Hebrew inscription in the middle framed by a wreath. An Aramaic inscription on the sides and bottom of the wreath contains the names of the donors who financed the mosaics for the synagogue or the artists who created them, requesting that their memories be preserved forever. On both sides of the wreath, lions protrude with their front paws on the heads of bulls. The entire panel is surrounded by an ornate frame depicting predators chasing other animals.

Excavations this summer also revealed additional mosaic panel fragments discovered in 2012 and 2013, depicting parts of Samson and foxes as mentioned in Judges 15:4 and Samson carrying the Gaza Gate on his shoulders as mentioned in Judges 16: 3. New Among the items discovered are a Palestinian rider and a dead Palestinian with a stunning classic face.

Excavations in 2022 uncovered a panel in the southwest aisle, divided into three registers (horizontal stripes), depicting a segment from Judges 4: the biblical prophet and judge Deborah staring at Barak with his shield under a palm tree; and the Kenite woman Jael (Yael) hammers a tent nail into the temple of the Canaanite general Sisera, who lies dead on the ground, blood pouring from his head. These are the earliest known images of the biblical heroes Deborah and Jael.

A large-scale archaeological project at Hukok has left an extraordinary legacy of historically important finds, including:

• Hebrew inscription surrounded by human figures, animals and mythological creatures including putti or cupid.
• The first non-biblical story ever found in the decoration of an ancient synagogue is perhaps the legendary meeting between Alexander the Great and the Jewish high priest.
• Panel designated as “the pillar between the two” at Numbers 13:23, depicting two spies sent by Moses to explore Canaan with a bunch of grapes and a pole.
• Another panel depicting a man guiding an animal with a rope is accompanied by the inscription “a little boy will lead them” (Isaiah 11:6).
• Animal figures described in Aramaic inscription as four beasts representing the four kingdoms in Daniel chapter 7.
• The large panel in the northwest aisle depicts Elim, where the Israelites camped near 12 springs and 70 palm trees after leaving Egypt and wandered through the waterless desert mentioned at Exodus 15:27.
• Image of Noah’s Ark.
• part of the Red Sea.
• Helios zodiac cycle.
• The dolphin was swallowed by three fish in quick succession.
• Construction of the Tower of Babel.

Archaeologists discovered that the synagogue was rebuilt and expanded in the early 14th century AD (late medieval/Mamluk period). This development apparently followed the creation of a new international highway connecting Cairo and Damascus, passing through Yaquq, the medieval Hukoka name, and a tradition emerged that Habakkuk’s tomb was nearby and has recently become a center. medieval Jewish pilgrim.

During the excavations carried out in 2022 and 2023, a huge stone-paved courtyard, known as a columnar, was also unearthed to the east of the synagogue. In the late Middle Ages, the courtyard was reused and a huge vaulted structure of unknown purpose was built over it.

After the completion of this final season of excavation, the site will be handed over to the Israel Antiquities Authority and Keren Kayemet Le’Israel (Jewish National Foundation), which plan to turn the site into a tourist attraction. Source