Newly found early Byzantine settlement and monastery by Kiryat Gat in southern Israel had been wealthy, archaeologists deduce, based on imports and the upscale church.
Newsroom (01/24/2025 11:32, Gaudium Press) Ahead of a new neighborhood being built north of the southern Israeli city of Kiryat Gat, the builders and subsequently the Israel Antiquities Authority have uncovered the largest Roman-Byzantine settlement in the area. The Byzantine monastery discovery in Israel is complete with a wine-works, brisk ceramics industry – and what appears to be a monastery featuring an elaborate, apparently symmetrical mosaic floor down the main aisle with an inscription in Greek.
It isn’t a dedication but a biblical quote – “Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out” (Deuteronomy 28:6) – according to excavation co-directors Shira Lifshitz and Maayan Margulis.
Other elements in the flooring include cross shapes and lions, birds that are probably doves and a depiction of an amphora, which is a jug used in antiquity to ship wine, oil or other stuffs. Flowers and geometric matters can also be discerned. The biblical quote is in the middle.
The mosaic is not complete – the elements mentioned above are just the unmistakable ones. The lion’s posterior is definitely unmistakable.
There is a neat depression in the monastery floor that could have two possible uses, suggests Michael Eisenberg, an archaeologist and expert on Byzantine churches who isn’t involved in this excavation: most likely it was simply a point to collect water and dirt when cleaning the floor. Alternatively but less likely, it could have been a place to put an amphora.
Uniquely in Israeli archaeology, says Lifshitz, the patterns in the mosaic carpet include sections featuring clusters of very small tesserae (mosaic stones), which would have needed to be placed very delicately. The tesserae in a given mosaic are usually much of a muchness in size.
The size of the settlement remains to be seen. The excavation is in its early days, says Margulis, under southern Israel’s beating winter sun. The high-rises of Kiryat Gat can be seen in the distance over the pancake-flat land.
So far, the archaeologists have detected the remains of at least 10 buildings, including a winepress, warehouse and that monastery – and they haven’t even begun to seriously seek out the residential area.
The main difference between an ancient church and an ancient monastery is that a church is a worship hall, but a monastery features a worship hall and rooms for accommodation and services, Margulis explains. By the worship hall, they have identified a fairly large space that they think may be the refectory.
Though it may not have been occupied consecutively, settlement at the site goes back at least 6,000 years to the Chalcolithic, Margulis says. It seems occupation was unceasing as of the early Roman period, the first century, and throughout the Byzantine period. In fact, the archaeologists have detected signs of two phases of construction in the context of the cloister’s neighborhood: an earlier (Roman) layer and the later (Byzantine) one. The excavation focuses on the Byzantine-period area, during which time the settlement grew bigger.
The putative monastery dates to the fifth or sixth century, the archaeologists deduce. In its framework they found pots, coins, the shattered remains of a marble chancel, vessels made of metal and beautiful precious glass – which would likely have been made locally, this being one of only a handful of sources of the special sand the Romans needed for their glassware.
To date, two small intact glass juglets have been uncovered, possibly designed to hold precious liquids. Another lovely artifact, albeit a weather-beaten one, is a small pottery jar with a human face.
The archaeological site is also riddled with pottery fragments; the team has found at least one kiln to fire the wares.
Further evidence of local ceramic manufacture is deformed pots: ones that were just badly made and would have been discarded. Among other objects, the townsfolk were making “Gaza jars” – a signature type of amphora used to export fluids around the Mediterranean basin. Wondrously, the excavation also uncovered a storage room where jars had been stacked.
In short, the living in this town was not hardscrabble, they conclude. The winepress they discovered had lived and lived again, having been repaired several times over the years. Even the fermentation rooms and collecting vat had mosaic flooring, coloured blue and white. Some remnants of white plaster and red wall paint can still be observed.
The floor of the collecting vat also featured inscriptions, in Greek. However, these were not biblical niceties but masonry marks for the winepress builders. Like the church in the monastery, the winepress has the hallmarks of significant investment, the archaeologists surmise.
“We just began to excavate the site,” says Margulis, anticipating more surprises ahead.
One may be that the mosaic with the biblical blessing disappears. After roughly 1,500 years, it’s going to move. “The mosaic floor will be relocated to an open area in the city [Kiryat Gat] and made accessible to the public,” vows IAA Southern District Director Svetlana Talis.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from Haaretz
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