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Includes 132 b/w figures and 6 tables.
In the northwest quarter of the site of Caesarea Maritima is Field O, the location known as "the synagogue site and Jewish Quarter." Although excavated in 1956 and 1962, archaeologists and scholars researching the excavation results have been limited to seeing a brush-choked patch of excavated ruins, viewing a few artifacts in museums, and to the frustrating examination of the confusing, often contradictory published preliminary reports. For whatever reason, there was no final report published and there were no published photographs, site plans, or plans of the structures. This lack of clear understanding threatened to keep the site out of the corpus of synagogue sites forever.
Now, comprehensive research has discovered previously unknown records from the 1962 excavations and produced a comparative study of the 1945/46, 1956/62, and 1982/84 excavation photographs and the complete findings from the Joint Expedition to Caesarea Maritima survey and excavation seasons. Included for the first time are a site plan of the excavated remains and reconstruction drawings of the excavated structures.
Marylinda Govaars has over ten years of archaeological field experience both in the United States and overseas. At Caesarea, Govaars worked as assistant surveyor/architect in 1980, and then as head surveyor/architect in 1982 and 1984. Govaars has been consulting with the E. Jerry Vardaman Estate since 2002.
Marie Spiro is a specialist in Late Roman and Early Christian art and archaeology, with a particular interest in the study of mosaics. Spiro is Associate Professor Emeritus at the University of Maryland.
L. Michael White is an American Biblical scholar. He is Ronald Nelson Smith Chair in Classics and Christian Origins, and director of the Institute for the Study of Antiquity and Christian Origins, at the University of Texas at Austin.
Contents
Preface xi
Acknowledgments xi
List of Figures xiii
List of Tables xvi
Abbreviations xvii
Introduction 1
Chapter 1: Discovery and Investigations before 1948 5
Chapter 2: Investigations in the 1950s and 1960s 23
Chapter 3: The JECM 1982 and 1984 Seasons 57
Chapter 4: The Missing 1962 Site Plan 103
Chapter 5: Final Analysis and Conclusions 123
Chapter 6: Field O Pavements by Marie Spiro 145
Chapter 7: Inscriptions by L. Michael White 155
Appendix A: Avi-Yonah’s 1956 Report 177
Appendix B: Avi-Yonah’s 1960s Reports 179
Appendix C: Vardaman’s 1962 Field Notes 185
Appendix D: Detailed Descriptions of Photographs 187
Appendix E: Early Archaeological Reports, 1923–1946 197
Appendix F: Activities in Caesarea Maritima Field O 221
Appendix G: Reference Numbers for Walls, Surfaces, and Features 223
Appendix H: Artifacts from Previous Excavations 227
Notes 235
Bibliography 273
Drawing and Photographic Credits 284
Index 285