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Dates Excavated:
1982
Excavator(s):
Zvi Uri Ma’oz
Archaeological Information: /
Date of Building Construction:
(early) 5th century [626]
Place of Building in Settlement:
The settlement occupies two hills; the synagogue is located on top of the larger, but less settled southern hill, outside the village proper. The synagogue is the southernmost building at the ancient site. [627]
Building Description:
[628]In Phase II of the building’s history, the complex was a basalt synagogue with a basilical layout and two rows of probably four columns each.[629] The main entrance was in the south wall (slightly off center to the east), and a smaller door was located in the north end of the west wall. There might have been two-tiered benches along the northern, eastern, and western walls.[630] The synagogue had a basalt flagstone floor, which is preserved only in the west aisle and along the south wall. Some decorative motifs were carved on stones and doorways. Two inscribed seven-branched menorahs were also discovered, carved into a stone block found outside the synagogue. There may have been a wooden Torah shrine west of the southern door.[631] The layout of the building and the possible Torah shrine suggest an orientation towards Jerusalem in the south wall. Many coins were discovered in the foundation fill beneath missing segments of the flagstone pavement (especially in L 108, 114, 115, and 117, where the excavations penetrated deeply into the fill), but two sealed and thus undisturbed loci filled with coins were also excavated at the site: L 124 and 129.[632]
Maps and Plans
Other Materials
Copyright-Protected Materials (logged-in members only)
First Deposit
Date Excavated: 1982
Deposit Location:
In the middle of the western aisle, hidden under floor flagstones, in a compact brown earth layer
Archaeological Information:
Locus 124 in the Phase II synagogue (Basket 1089)
Certain association with the building itself? Yes
Deposit Retrievable? No
Deposit Type: IB6
Deposit Description:
In the middle of the west aisle of the synagogue, four flagstones each measuring 0.35 X 0.90 m were removed for a test probe, for a total area of 0.70 X 1.50 m.[633] Directly below the flagstones was a compact brown earth layer a few centimeters thick, which contained 312 coins.[634] A few of these were stuck by corrosion to the underside of the flagstones. Among the group was a gold issue of the emperor Gratian, dated 367-375 CE. Underlying the earth layer was a fill of rounded stones and compact earth (Locus 129), which contained 24 more coins.
Container Present? No
Description of Coins:
The coins found in Locus 124 were published in 1991 by Ariel.[635] Of the 312 bronze coins that were discovered in this context, he identified 68, meaning that 234 of them were, according to his published analysis, unidentifiable. In his catalogue, the coins range in date between 335-341 CE and 395-408 CE. However, in the IAA database, a total of 206 coins are listed as coming from Locus 124 and have been identified. This leaves us with 105 coins that were not, or could not be identified, and are missing from the database.[636] Another problem is that the dates and descriptions of the coins in the IAA database are dissimilar from the ones published in the 1991 report. Thus, the published catalogue seems to be unreliable. In the database for this project, it has been decided to follow the IAA records and not the 1991 report.[637] The reader must use caution when using the information about this deposit.
Fig. 3 summarizes the coins from Dabiyye, Locus 124.[638] The coins range in date between 337-341 CE and 402-408 CE, or a short span of half a century (Late Roman I). The minting places of most of the coins could not be read but the analyzed coins came from Alexandria, Antioch, Constantinople, Cyzicus and Thessalonica. Most of the coins could not be read in full, but where possible, LRBC parallels have been provided by the IAA.
Other Images
Conspectus Table:
Conspectus table Dabiyye, Deposit 1. This table can be seen in full screen by clicking the icon on the bottom right. For more details on the specific coins in each row, please hover over the numbers.
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Second Deposit
Date Excavated: 1982
Deposit Location:
In the middle of the western aisle, hidden under floor flagstones in a fill layer of rounded stones below Locus 124.
Archaeological Information:
Locus 129 in the Phase II synagogue (Baskets 1097, 1102)
Certain association with the building itself? Yes
Deposit Retrievable? No
Deposit Type: IB6
Deposit Description:
In the middle of the west aisle of the synagogue, four flagstones each measuring 0.35 X 0.90 m were removed for a test probe, for a total area of 0.70 X 1.50 m. [639] Directly below the flagstones was a compact brown earth layer a few centimeters thick. Underlying the earth layer was a fill of rounded stones and compacted earth (Locus 129), which contained 24 coins. Underneath this, a system of walls belonging to Phase III was found.
Container Present? No
Description of Coins:
The coins found in Locus 129 were published in 1991 by Ariel. [640] Of the 24 bronze coins discovered in this context, he identified eight, meaning that 16 were, according to his published analysis, unidentifiable. In his catalogue, two coins could be dated to 367-375 CE, one coin to 375-392 CE, two coins to 383 CE, two coins to 383-395 CE, and one coin to 393-395 CE. However, in the IAA database, a total of 20 coins are listed as coming from Locus 129 and all 20 have been identified. This leaves us with only four coins that were not or could not be identified and are missing from the database.
Fig. 4 summarizes the coins from Dabiyye, Locus 129. The coins range in date between 341-346 CE and 324-408 CE, similar to Deposit 1. Only two minting places could be identified in this deposit: Alexandria and Antioch; however, only four coins were in such a condition that a minting place could be read. The identified coins are issues of Constantius II, Valens, Valentinian II, Theodiosius I, and Arcadius. The index cards at the IAA do not provide full descriptions of the obverse and reverse sides of most coins; these were most likely illegible. When possible, however, LRBC parallels have been provided.
Conspectus Table:
Conspectus table Dabiyye, Deposit 2. This table can be seen in full screen by clicking the icon on the bottom right. For more details on the specific coins in each row, please hover over the numbers.
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References
Bibliography:
– Chiat M., 1982, Handbook of Synagogue Architecture, Chico: Scholars Press, pp. 271-272
– Ma’oz Z., 1983, “Dabiyye,” in: Hadashot Arkheologiyot, Vol. 83, p. 2 (Hebrew)
– Ariel D.T., 1991, “Coins from the Synagogue at Dabbiye,” in: ‘Atiqot, Vol. 20, pp. 74-80
– Ilan Z., 1991, Ancient Synagogues in Israel, Tel Aviv: Ministry of Defence, p. 80 (Hebrew)
– Killebrew A., 1991, “Pottery from Dabiyya,” in: ‘Atiqot, Vol. 20, pp. 66-73
– Ma’oz Z., 1991, “Excavations in the Ancient Synagogue at Dabiyye,” in: ‘Atiqot, Vol. 20, pp. 49-65
– Urman D., 1995b, “Public Structures and Jewish Communities in the Golan Heights,” in: Urman D. & Flesher P. (eds.), Ancient Synagogues: Historical Analysis and Archaeological Discovery, Vol. 2, Leiden: Brill, pp. 447-452
– Dauphin C. 1998, La Palestine Byzantine: Peuplement et Population, Oxford, Vol. 3, p. 652
– Urman D., 1995, “Public Structures and Jewish Communities in the Golan Heights,” in: Urman D. & Flesher P. (eds.), Ancient Synagogues: Historical Analysis and Archaeological Discovery, Vol. 2, Leiden: Brill, pp. 447-452
– Milson D., 2007, Art and Architecture of the Synagogue in Late Antique Palestine: in the Shadow of the Church, Leiden/Boston, pp. 341-342
– Spigel C., 2012, Ancient Synagogue Seating Capacities: Methodology, Analysis and Limits, Mohr Siebeck, pp. 181-185
– Hachlili R., 2013, Ancient Synagogues: Archaeology and Art: New Discoveries and Current Research, Leiden: Brill, pp. 111-112, 177, 544, 561
– Ahipaz N., 2015, The Custom of the Ritual Burial of Coins in Synagogues, MA thesis, pp. 43-46 (Hebrew)
Website(s):
– The Bornblum Eretz Israel Synagogues Website:
http://synagogues.kinneret.ac.il/synagogues/dabiyye/
– The Archaeological Survey of Israel:
http://www.antiquities.org.il/survey/new/default_en.aspx?pid=5734
Footnotes
[626] The building originally was dated to the late fifth or early sixth century by Zvi Ma’oz, based on his limited one week-long salvage excavation in August of 1982. However, after Killebrew and Ariel examined the pottery and coins from the excavations more closely, they concluded that “The sherds and coins recovered from the construction fills at Dabiyye would indicate a terminus post quem of the early fifth century CE or later for the construction of the synagogue” (Killebrew 1991, p. 67 and Ariel 1991, p. 78).
[627] Ma’oz 1991, pp. 49-50. The site had already been surveyed by Dan Urman in 1968 and 1972, during which remains of the synagogues still standing up 2-3 courses high were discovered (Urman 1995, p. 447)
[628] All descriptions in this catalogue are mainly based on Spigel 2012a, with additions and remarks from excavation reports published by the excavators of each site.
[629] Ma’oz 1991: in Phase I, the synagogue was in use as a stable, probably beginning in the 6th century CE until 1967. Phase III was an orthogonal system of walls with unclear function pre-dating the synagogue building. It must be noted, however, that the building has only been excavated in an “explorative” manner: the entire building has yet to be excavated, and any conclusions on layout and dates must thus be tentative. In fact, it has been suggested that the building was not a synagogue at all and that no conclusions on the function(s) of the building should be made before the structural complex is excavated in its entirety (Urman 1995, p. 452).
[630] Urman doubts this suggestion as he sees no evidence for this in Ma’oz’s reconstructed plans and observations (Urman 1995, p. 450). However, I believe Maoz’s interpretation is correct.
[631] Urman is skeptical about this hypothesized shrine and accuses Ma’oz of inventing an imaginary wooden ark, a modification Ma’oz also made to the synagogue of ‘En Nashut, which he had excavated a couple of years prior.
[632] See Ariel 1991 for a published overview of 705 cleaned coins found at the site. It thus seems that the two deposits described here are not separate clusters but belonged to a “coin layer” that probably was spread out over a much larger surface under the flagstone floor of the synagogue.
[633] Ma’oz 1991, p. 55. The dirt was sifted but no metal detector was used (Ahipaz 2015, p. 46).
[634] Hachlili 2013, p. 544: she mentions 336 bronze coins in total, thus combining L 124 and 129 (see below) as if they are one group.
[635] Ariel 1991, p. 75.
[636] The IAA database also lists three coins as coming from Dabiyye, but without a locus number. It is possible that some of these three coins came from L 124 or 129, however, the order of the index cards in the system makes it more likely that they came from L108.
[637] Decided after personal communication with Donald Ariel: he does not know what went wrong either and does not remember how he came up with the exact analyses of the published coins.
[638] The conspectus tables in this study have been made in black-and-white for easy printing and to accommodate people with color blindness. If you would like to use any of the tables provided here, or would like the tables in color, please feel free to get in touch with me. The tables can also be found on the website, where they can be made larger, and manipulated to either show the Locus or the Emperor, and the End Date or the Full Date of each coin.
[639] Ma’oz 1991, p. 55.
[640] Ariel 1991, p. 75.