Nadene Goldfoot

(PHOTO: Ancient Synagogue in Eshtemoa near Hebron, 2009. Credit: Meir Rotter, Wiki Commons.)

The walls of ancient synagogue of Eshtemoa near Hebron still stand, and periodic visits include Jewish prayer services. The city of Eshtemoa is listed in Joshua 21:14 as a city given to the children of Aaron the high priest. It is mentioned in the same paragraph as other communities in the Southern Hebron Hills region such as Hebron and Jutta (Yatta). It is also mentioned in I Chronicles 6:42, in which the division of the Land of Israel is reiterated, "they gave Hebron in the land of Judea and its surrounding pasture lands, but to the fields of the city they gave to Caleb son of Jefunneh. To the sons of Aaron they gave the cities of refuge: Hebron and Libnah with its pasturelands, Jattir and Eshtemoa with its pasturelands." In I Samuel 31:28 it states that after David successfully defended the nation against the Amalekites he sent the spoils to Eshtemoa as well as other cities in the region including Hebron. An individual named Hasa of Eshtemoa is mentioned in the Jerusalem Talmud. An Amora, or scholars who is quoted in the text, he lived during the end of the 3rd-century or beginning of the 4th-century CE. The Talmud states he was visited by Rabbi Yasa (also spelled Jasa) of Tiberias. Shmuel Safrai, the late Professor Emeritus of History of the Jewish People at Hebrew University assumes that the Rabbi Yasa mentioned in the Talmud is the same as Rabbi Isi, who is mentioned in the inscription at the synagogue in ancient Susya. Eusebius of Caesarea, the 4th century historian wrote that Eshtemoa was "a very large village of Jews."

Archaeology occupies an important place in Israel because it has helped to uncover a great deal about the Jewish past in the Land over the last 3,000 years. But interest in the Land of Israel is not limited to the Jewish history. Here was the cradle of Christianity, here the early churches were built, this was a region of important activity for Islam in its first stages. Therefore, pilgrims of all religions have for many centuries come to visit the places holy to their faiths.

The fishhook, possibly for hunting sharks, was discovered in the Israel Antiquity Authority excavations carried out prior to the construction of the Agamim neighborhood in Ashkelon * The special find will be exhibited at the 48th Archaeological Congress, organized by the Israel Antiquity Authority, the Israel Exploration Society, and the Israeli Archaeological Association.

Nowadays, scholars are drawn to Israel in their search for the origins of the great monotheistic religions and ancient cultures. Archaeological activity in the Land which began in the 19th century was given a considerable boost after 1948-the birth of Israel. The development of new regions far from centers of habitation which had been circumscribed since the Middle Ages, promoted archaeological surveys and researches that uncovered testimony of the chronicles of the Land and its dwellers from pre-historic times onwards.

In the Jordan Valley, Galilee and the Carmel Range, bones of Early Man were found together with his tools and remains of the animals that he hunted. the oldest of these remains date back over a million years.

Ruins of a city gate and pagan stele at the Et-Tel archaeological site at Bethsaida. Photo by Chmee2/Wikimedia Commons.

Vestiges of Canaanite settlements from the 3rd and 2nd millennia BCE were brought to light in such biblical sites as Hazor, Megiddo, Ashdod, Jerusalem and Shechem. Recent finds in Hazor, Megiddo, Geezer, Jerusalem Beersheba, Ashdod and Dan have illuminated the settlement of the Israelites on their return from Egypt towards the end of the 2nd millennium BCE and particularly after the establishment of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, providing many details about the daily life, architecture, arts and forms of religious worship.

Aren Maeir (born 1958) is an American-born Israeli archaeologist and professor at Bar Ilan University. He is director of the Tell es-Safi/Gath Archaeological Project

A list was compiled with the help of Bar-Ilan University archeologist Prof. Aren Maeir. He has directed excavations and surveys in Jerusalem (the Western Wall Tunnels, Mamilla, Kikar Safra, Malha), the Beit She’an Valley and Tel Yavneh. He’s widely known for his ongoing work at Tel es-Safi, the site that opens our list. Maeir notes that these sites are open to the public. Many have well-marked paths with excellent signage explaining what you’re seeing. He has participated in, and directed, numerous archaeological excavations in Israel, including at the following sites: Jerusalem, Hazor, Yoqneam, Tell Qasile, Beth-Shean, and since 1996, at Tell es-Safi/Gath. He is married to Adina (née Hartman), and they have three sons and four grandchildren.

Ark of the Covenant in the center between Menoras

Mosaic decoration at the Hammath Tiberias synagogue--In Hammath Tiberias, the personified sun god appears at the center of a large mosaic floor divided into three panels featuring dedicatory inscriptions, personifications of the seasons and the twelve signs of the zodiac, and motifs associated with the ancient Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. What prompted the fourth-century Jewish community of Hammath Tiberias, a monotheistic community, to adorn their house of worship with an image of Sol, a prominent Roman deity? The mosaics of Hammath Tiberias can only be understood in the context of Late Antique and early Byzantine Jewish history and culture, Greco-Roman and early Christian artistic traditions, and the dramatic political, religious, and social circumstances of the 4th through 7th centuries.

His expertise lies in the Bronze and Iron Age cultures of the Eastern Mediterranean, with special emphasis on those of the Ancient Levant. Among the topics that he has studied are: ancient trade; metallurgy; pottery production and provenance; scientific applications in archaeology; archaeological survey; the archaeology of Jerusalem; the Middle Bronze Age of the Levant; chronology of the 2nd Millennium BCE; the Sea Peoples and the Philistines; relations between Egypt and the Levant; ancient weapons and warfare; ancient cult and religion.

Masada, a refuge for Herod's family in 40 BCE when it was unsuccessfully besieged by Antigonus Mattathias. Later, Herod built a palace there. The roman garrison was annihilated by Eleazar ben Jair in 66 CE and Masada was a Zealot fortress until 73 CE when the garrison of 960 Jewish zealots under Eleazar committed suicide to avoid capture by the Romans.

Splendid remains from the time of the 2nd Temple, notably from the Hasmonaean period through the Jewish revolt against the Romans in the 1st century CE, were unearthed in such key sites as Jerusalem, Caesarea, Beit She'an, Tiberias and Jaffa. Among the most impressive are the relics of fortresses in the Judaean Desert, such as Masada and Herodion, which were bases for that ill-starred revolt which ended in 70 CE with the devastation of the land and its conversion into a Roman province.

Yigael Sukenik (later Yadin) was born in Ottoman Palestine to archaeologist Eleazar Sukenik and his wife Hasya Sukenik-Feinsold, a teacher and women's rights activist. Yigael Yadin (Hebrew: יִגָּאֵל יָדִין (20 March 1917 – 28 June 1984) was an Israeli archeologist, soldier and politician. He was the second Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces and Deputy Prime Minister from 1977 to 1981.

During the early 1960s, Israeli archaeologists working on Masada, an ancient fortress which towers over the Dead Sea, unearthed what had been Herod the Great's winter retreat (73-4BC). Items revealed included wall paintings, scrolls and a sophisticated water collection system. The dig was led by Professor Yigael Yadin, the former Israeli military chief of staff, between 1963 and 1965, and was helped by a large team of international volunteers. Many of these had responded to an appeal that had appeared in the Observer on 11 August 1963.