Report on 2010-2013 Excavations at Horvat Kur, Galilee

Zangenberg, Jürgen K.; Münger, Stefan; Hakola, Raimo; McCane, Byron (23 November 2013). Report on 2010-2013 Excavations at Horvat Kur, Galilee (Unpublished). In: Annual Meeting of the American Schools of Oriental Research. Baltimore/MD. 20.-23.11.2013.

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Four seasons of excavations at Horvat Kur in the Galilee (250570/754485) have exposed the remains of a broadhouse synagogue from the Byzantine period.
The building was entered through a portico on the west or a doorway on the south. The fill beneath the portico included the discarded remains of a once colored mosaic as well as more than 1000 coins. A low bench of basalt stones (some of which were plastered) runs along the interior walls, interrupted only by a stone bemah in the center of the southern wall. The synagogue is thus oriented toward Jerusalem. Near the bemah, an ornamented limestone seat was found in situ atop the bench. The building underwent several changes and repairs in the course of its lifespan.
On either side of the bemah, north-south rows of columns rested on stylobate. A basalt stone table was found in re-use in the eastern stylobate. Nicknamed “the Horvat Kur stone,” this monolith features geometric figures on three sides and figurative representations on one side. Its original function is as yet subject of research.
A narrow test-trench into the sediment of a cistern located outside the northern wall of the synagogue has produced nearly thirty intact vessels of the early Byzantine period, mostly cooking pots and water jars. In addition a dense sequence of pollen samples has been taken.
Preliminary interpretation of these finds indicates that the Horvat Kur synagogue illustrates Byzantine synagogue construction, decoration, and use in the setting of a Galilean village of modest economic circumstances.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Division/Institute:	01 Faculty of Theology > Institute of Jewish Studies 01 Faculty of Theology > Department of Protestant Theology [discontinued] > Institute of Jewish Studies [discontinued]
UniBE Contributor:	Münger, Stefan
Subjects:	200 Religion
Language:	English
Submitter:	Stefan Münger
Date Deposited:	01 Apr 2014 17:51
Last Modified:	05 Dec 2022 14:32
URI:	https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/47972