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Authors

Raz Kletter

Abstract

Excavation at the site of Shiqmona, east of the Tel Aviv–Haifa highway, revealed finds from the late Byzantine period, including a monastery, a large winepress, a dozen rock-cut tombs and two large buildings. The monastery is a large building, incorporating the chapel excavated by Makhouly in 1940, which was re-discovered. The monastery was dated on the basis of the meager pottery finds to the sixth century CE. North and south of the chapel were found marble and stone fragments, probably originating from the chapel, adorned with motifs known from mosaics of the same period. The finds here point that Shiqmona was probably a city, not a village as previously suggested. The monastery was located outside the city proper, where other monasteries were also discovered, coexisting side by side with the city.

Keywords

monastery, mosaics, clay coffin, arcosolia tombs, screw press

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