Germany: Colloquium on Cologne Jewish Quarter and Synagogue Excavation Results

Cologne, Germany. Detail from early phase of synagogue excavation. Photo: Samuel Gruber (2007).

Cologne, Germany. Medieval mikveh, looking up towards superstructure. Photo: Samuel Gruber (2007).

Germany: Colloquium on Cologne Jewish Quarter and Synagogue Excavation Results
by Samuel D. Gruber

I am very excited to be attending next weeks colloquium in Cologne, Germany, where the results of the recent and extensive excavations of the town hall square will be presented and discussed in detail. I first visited the excavation of the medieval synagogue in 2007 and most recently reported on the remarkable finds from this dig earlier this spring. I am thankful to the City of Cologne for inviting me to attend and participate. Together with the recent excavations in Lorca, Spain, the Cologne excavation is probably the more important work of "Jewish archaeology" of the past decade. Even though the site had been partially excavated in the 1950s, the finds really present an entirely new picture of Jewish history and community in Cologne.

I plan on writing some detailed articles from this meeting after the work is fully presented. In the meantime, here is the working schedule of the event.

Cologne, Germany. Hypothetical reconstruction of facade of ancient synagogue by Sven Schütte, published before recent excavations. Will now surely be modified,

THE EXCAVATIONS ON COLOGNE TOWN HALL SQUARE RESULTS

Colloquium July 6th/7th 2011
Cologne, Historisches Rathaus, Spanischer Bau, Ratssaal

Simultaneous translation in ENGLISH available for the whole congress!

For first Information please visit the English version [press „en“ ]
of our Website:
www.museenkoeln.de/archaeologische-zone

WEDNESDAY 6.7.2011

8.30 am Opening of Congress office - Spanish Building, Court
9.00 am Welcome
Jürgen Roters, Lord Mayor of the City of Cologne
Introduction into the Subject
Prof. Georg Quander, Head of the Department of Culture

SECTION: ANTIQUITY, EARLY MIDDLE AGES AND CONTINUITY

9.30 – 12.00 am
Sven Schütte, The Area in Antiquity
Marko Hocke, An Roman Architectural Model
Christos Vangelzikis, The Roman Thermal and their walls with stamped bricks
Marianne Gechter, the Written Sources from Antiquity to Middle Ages
Sven Schütte/Marianne Gechter, the Question of Continuity
Discussion / Moderation: Ulrich Klein

12.00 – 13.30 Lunch break (Opportunity to visit the Excavations)

SECTION JEWISH HISTORY I

13.30 – 17.30 pm
Marianne Gechter, Written Sources of the Medieval Jewish Community in Cologne
Sven Schütte, The Medieval Area around the Town Hall and it’s Phases
Ulrike Nusch-Schikowski, The different tiled floors of the Synagogue

15.00 pm – 15.30 pm Coffee break
Hubert Berke, Kosher Cuisine and Auerochses – The Archaeozoological research
Sven Schütte, The Infrastructure of the Jewish Quarter
Marianne Gechter, Written Sources for the Topography until 1349
Katja Kliemann, The Ashes of the Pogrom 1349 and their distribution in the Jewish Quarter
(Opportunity to visit the Excavations until 18.30 pm)

19.00 Evening Lecture , Historisches Rathaus, Hansasaal
Ernst Baltrusch, Constantine The Great and the Rescript of 321. Antijewish Predjudice or Religious Tolerance?

THURSDAY 7.7.2011

SECTION JEWISH HISTORY II / THE LATER HISTORY OF THE QUARTER

9.00am – 12.00 noon
Michael Wiehen, Latest Research on the Cologne Mikveh
Katja Kliemann, Ceramics and Stratigraphy – an overview
Elisabeth Hollender, The Epigraphic Finds from the Cologne Synagogue from 1349
Elisabeth Hollender, An Oldjiddish Text from the Cologne Synagogue

Discussion / Moderation: Johannes Heil

10.00am – 10.30 Coffee break

Marianne Gechter, The written Sources 1349 – 1424
Sven Schütte, The medieval Town hall and the Town Councils Chapel
Marianne Gechter, The written sources fort the Cologne Goldsmith’s Quarter
Sven Schütte, Cologne Goldsmith’s Quarter and its buildings
Sven Schütte, An Imperial Earring of the 10th century

Discussion / Moderation: Norbert Nussbaum

12.00 – 13.30 Conclusion /Perspectives
Sven Schütte, Colonia Archaeologica – Archaeological Zone and Jewish Museum – The Concept of the new Museum

Max Polonovski, A Future for the Past? Colognes Jewish Heritage in the 21st century –
Conclusion Discussion / Moderation: Johannes Heil

For Contact please do not hesitate to contact MARTINA HEMMERLING
0049 221 221 33422

Germany: Sensational Finds at Cologne Medieval Synagogue Excavation

Cologne, Germany. Fragment of slate tablet with Hebrew script for German-based text found in synagogue excavation.
Photo: courtesy Sven Scheutte/Archaologische Zone.

Cologne, Germany. Stone fragment of Hebrew inscription found in synagogue excavation.
Photo: courtesy Sven Scheutte/Archaologische Zone.

Germany: Sensational Finds at Cologne Medieval Synagogue Excavation
by Samuel D. Gruber

Cologne city archaeologist Sven Schuette has announced what is surely the most remarkable find of the continually remarkable excavation of the medieval synagogue and Jewish quarter of that ancient city - scores of fragments of inscribed slate tablets, some of which appear to have been used as writing tablets - perhaps by scholars and students - and some of which were possibly visible literary or historic texts important to the community. So far the finds have only been reported in local media.

Archaeologists have recently been recovering these and other extensive remains of the synagogue destroyed in 1349, during what is known as as the "Plague Pogrom" on Saint Bartholomew's Night, when the synagogue was burned and many Jews died within.

We now know that a synagogue had stood on the site since at least the 8th century, and there is strong evidence for an earliest Jewish presence on the site. Jews were present in the Rhineland in the Late Roman Period and I believe they maintained a continuous presence in Cologne, which was the major administrative center of the region until Charlemagne began to move his court to Aachen after his coronation as King of Franks in 768 (Schuette has been attacked for pushing for an early synagogue date, but the circumstantial evidence seems to support him).

At the time of the First Crusade in 1096 the synagogue was destroyed and many Jews murdered, but it was rebuilt. After the destruction of 1349 a small Jewish community was reestablished in 1372, but this community did not last long. In 1424 Jews' right to reside in cologne were revoked and the city was Judenrein for centuries. The synagogue remains today are part of the city's rich archaeological zone and part of the fine Archaeological Museum, which also preserve remains of the Late Roman and Early Medieval Cologne.

When in 1349, the night of 23 to 24 August, the Jewish Quarter was attacked and almost all its inhabitants murdered in what was one of the most brutal and devastating massacres of Jews in the late Middle Ages many people took refuge in the synagogue, which was then burned and subsequently looted. It is not clear whether Jews sacrificed themselves as martyrs or if they were attacked after taking refuge in the stone building.

Afterward, whatever was not of value - either because it was too damaged or of unknown use - was thrown as rubble into large pits or left it in place. In one of the pits - which may have been used as a privy and/or rubbish pit before the destruction - archaeologists are now recovering thousands of fragments of the destroyed synagogue, and earlier refuse from the period of intensive Jewish use. There have no reports of finding human remains.

Cologne, Germany. Fragments of synagogue bimah. Photo: Willy Horsch.

Previously fragments of the stone bimah (platform from which the Torah is read) has been found and published by Scheutte, but now many more have been found and archaeologists are also uncovering fragments of furniture, books, burnt parchment, toys, medicine bottles and even food waste. "It is the largest archaeological collection of finds from a German synagogue," says project manager Schuette.

Perhaps most remarkable find has been a collection of more than seventy fragments of slate on which extensive inscribed writing has been found. More pieces are still coming to light with inscriptions in Hebrew, German and Latin. Sometimes there are just scribbles or drawings, but there are also longer texts. A long poetry text literature from before 1349, is written in German, but in Hebrew script - possibly an important text example of early Yiddish. Only time will will tell what these text contain, already it is clear that we might have a new sort of genizah - though one not deliberately made by Jews to preserve sacred objects and texts to Holy to destroy, but rather an accidental genizah, where fragments of Jewish life and thought have been entombed for centuries by their destroyers. The inscribed tablets are strong evidence for the presence of a yeshiva or Jewish school on the synagogue premises.

It is remarkable that these finds - as well indications of the synagogues earlier history - were overlooked in the excavations by Otto Doppelfeld undertaken in the 1950s, which Scheutte, who began these excavations in 2007, felt required examination and continuation. But Doppelfield was working under intense pressures of time - whereas Scheutte has been given the opportunity, encouragement and budget by the city of Cologne to carry out a careful, continuous and far-reaching project. In the end the story of the Jewish quarter of Cologne, its historic synagogue and the vicissitudes of the Cologne Jewish community through the centuries will be told in a new museum to be erected over and around the synagogue site.

The excavation of the Cologne synagogue tells us much about the medieval Jewish community in Cologne, and also recover important traces of art and architecture. The excavation is also a new chapter in what I call the "archaeology of destruction," following especially the excavation of the demolished synagogues of Regensburg and Vienna, each of which was more systemically dismantled by Christian authorities for material reuse. Some day we may also witness the excavation of the great medieval synagogue of Budapest, which was burned like Cologne, with Jews inside.

Great Britain: Possible Medieval Synagogue in Northampton

Great Britain: Possible Medieval Synagogue in Northampton
by Samuel D. Gruber

(ISJM) Marcus Roberts of National Anglo-Jewish Heritage Trail (JTrails) in Northampton, England has presented evidence for the possible - even likely - identification of a site in that town as the remains of a medieval synagogue.

A survey using ground penetrating radar, carried out in partnership with Birmingham University, has identified stone walls and what appears to be a stairway and entry, possibly confirming known descriptions of the former Northampton synagogue which according to Roberts is recorded as a sunken building, entered by steps (‘and a fair and stately hall’) in an account of Northampton buildings before the Great Fire of 1674. An illustration in a bird’s eye view map of 1634 appears to show the same building where we detected the sub-cellar remains.

A survey of land underneath Kebabish (a kebab shop) and The Bear Public House, both in Sheep Street, Northampton, has identified what may be the remains of a synagogue which would date to the period before the expulsion of Jews from England in 1290.

Roberts told the Northampton Chronicle & Echo (April 9, 2010): " It ...showed what appears to be two walls going down 14 feet underneath cellar level. There was also a square or rectangular structure next to it which may well have been a stairway going down into the synagogue." Roberts further told me that "the very substantial building was a sunken structure in the medieval period, an adjacent wall in the pub cellar appears to be an up-wards extension and adjacent structure to the sub-cellar finds, which could thereby be a visible remnant of the synagogue wall or an adjacent Jewish building and is at least six feet thick."

Last year, an archaeological survey in Northampton discovered what Roberts believes is the site of a 12th century Jewish cemetery of the city. In the case of the new find, Roberts and project partner Caroline Sturdy Colls, a PhD archaeology student at Birmingham University, both warned they could not be certain of the nature of the remains without excavating the site. Based on the historical and documentary evidence, Robers is confident that Sheep Street was once home to a medieval Jewish settlement and synagogue. But even if the identified remains are part of a former Jewish street, much more evidence would needed to prove they were also part of a synagogue. One remembers that controversy and disagreement on the identification of the massive Romanesque structure excavated in Rouen (France). That episode is a lesson that despite the lack of many many large Jewish communal structures of the period surviving today, there may have been more than we presume. Not every significant building in a Jewish quarter or on a Jewish street need have been a synagogue.

But Roberts told the local paper "But we thought we would find the synagogue there and what we have found is an extremely substantial medieval sunken building."

To date there are no confirmed remains of medieval synagogues in England. In the 1990s a small structure with built-in benches was excavated in Guildford and was quickly identified as a likely synagogue, but experts now disagree over its original use. Excavations in London in recent years have revealed remains of houses of local Jews and of mikvot, but no synagogue.

For further reading see:

Alexander, Mary, 1997. “A possible synagogue in Guildford,” in G. De Boe & F. Verhaeghe, ed.s: Religion and Belief in Medieval Europe – Papers of the Medieval Europe Brugge 1997 Conference, vol. 4, 201-212, I.A.P. Rapporten 4, Zellik, 1997.

Blair, Ian; Hillaby, Joe; Howell, Isca; Serman, Richard; and Watson, Bruce, 2001. “Two Medieval Jewish Ritual Baths – Mikva’ot – found at Gresham Street and Milk Street in London,” Transactions of the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society, Vol. 52 (2001), 127-137.

Isserlin, Raphael M.J., “Building Jerusalem in the ‘Islands of the Sea’: The Archaeology of Medieval Anglo-Jewry” in S. Kadish, ed., Building Jerusalem: Jewish Architecture in Britain. Vallentine Mitchell, London and Portland, Or., 34-53.

Jewish Archaeology in Europe: Upcoming Conference and an Overview

Lorca, Spain. Medieval Synagogue (15th century?) and three of the dozens of handing glass oil lamps excavated, as reconstructed. Photos: Samuel D. Gruber, 2009.

Jewish Archaeology in Europe: Conference and Overview
By Samuel D. Gruber

A major conference about the archaeology of Judaism in Europe has been organized in Paris by Paul Salmona of the Institut national de recherches archéologiques préventives (INRAP). The conference will be held at the Musee d'art et d'histoire du judaisme on January 14-15, 2010.

INRAP was founded in 2002 under the French Law on archaeology of January 2001. It replaces Association for the national archaeological excavations (AFAN), established in 1901. INRAP is administered jointly by the French Ministries of Culture and Research.

The full program can be consulted at the INRAP website or downloaded here.

This conference comes on the heels of another big conference “Medieval Jewish archaeology in the Iberian Peninsula,” for archaeologists about recent excavation of Jewish sites in Spain held in Murcia in February, 2009. The 133-page proceedings of the conference can be accessed at:
http://www.lucesdesefarad.com/images/preactas.pdf

Both conferences are signs of the quickening pace of “Jewish archaeology” in Europe, and the increasing variety of sites encountered, and conflicting views on their excavation, interpretation and presentation.

The systematic and planned archaeology of Judaism in Europe is a relatively new phenomenon that has evolved from several trends that even today are not always easily reconciled. Since I will not be able to attend the Paris conference, and I doubt that many of readers will be there either, Ipresent here a brief overview of the topic of "Jewish Archaeology."

Jewish Archaeology in Europe: History

The roots of “Jewish Archaeology” lie in the 19th and early 20th century German scientific study of Judaism (Wissenschaft des Judentum), an academic movement that advocated intensive study of ancient, medieval and post-medieval source material and created more nuanced history of Jewish settlement and community. The movement mostly saw traditional Judaism as an historic relic, rather than as a dynamic religion, and was thus rejected by most observant Jews. The Wissenschaft movement was particularly attentive to texts, but was also cognizant of the possibility of the new field of archaeology in providing new information.

A similar movement developed in England, led by the Jewish Historical Society of England (founded 1893), that identified Jewish settlement sites in England from before the expulsion of 1290, and details about the names, occupations and wealth of many Jewish individuals. This effort has continued for more than a century and recently led to archaeological excavations in York, Guildford and London. Nearly contemporary with the Jewish Historical Society was the publication by Israel Abrahams (1858-1925) of Jewish Life in the Middle Ages, a work about the everyday life of Jews as much as about religion. It gave extensive coverage to material culture.

Along with the development of “Biblical Archaeology” in the Near East, Jewish scholars supported excavations in Europe. Archaeological investigation into ancient Judaism was deliberately developed in the Holy Land, first by Europeans in the late 19th century. In the early 20th century Jews resident in Palestine supported this work, and continued after 1948 the new state of Israel. The Israel Exploration Society (originally Society for the Reclamation of Antiquities) was founded in 1914. Among many discoveries – that continue today – are the remains of synagogues and Jewish villages of late antiquity. Parallel to this, were accidental discoveries in Europe of signs of ancient and medieval Judaism in the form of inscriptions and synagogues. One of the earliest was the uncovering of the Jewish cemetery of the rue de la Harpe in Paris in 1847 (thanks to Max Polonovski for this information).

In the second half of the 19th century Jewish scholars joined the study of texts and material culture by studying Jewish funerary epitaphs, including those from the catacombs in Rome, but also cemeteries dating from the 12th through 16th centuries in Worms, Prague, Vienna, Lvov and many other cities.

In Palestine there was a growing interest and professionalism in “Jewish archaeology,” while in Europe there was growing evidence – but not widespread interest – in the potential of archaeology to expand historical horizons. Unfortunately, many finds explicitly linked to the European Jewish past have languished in storage and the potential link to Jews and Judaism of other finds have received little scrutiny. One of the few publicly accessible collections of medieval Judaica in Europe was that of the Musee Cluny in Paris, assembled in the mid-19th century by Joseph Isaac Strauss (1806-1888) who displayed 82 items at the Universal Exhibition in the Trocadero Palace in Paris and exhibited part of the collection at the Anglo-Jewish Historical Exhibition in London in 1887. The collection, which is mostly comprised of synagogue and household ritual objects was later purchased by Baron Nathaniel de Rothschild and presented it as a gift to the French nation.

Archaeology of Judaism in Europe as we know it today developed directly out of the destruction of European cities in the Second World War. Post-war urban renewal developed opportunities for archaeological excavation in bombed out city centers. Documentation of standing Jewish structures – mostly synagogues – had begun in earnest in Germany and Poland during the interwar years, but most of these buildings were subsequently destroyed in the Holocaust. After 1945, however, remains of extensive medieval Jewish settlements in German cities could be fully exposed and investigated. These sites – previously known mostly through documentary evidence – gave a new physical dimension to the medieval presence in Europe. Unfortunately, limitations of archaeological technique as well as post-War political issues, financial constraints, and pressure for urban rebuilding, restricted the results of excavation and analysis. Otto Dopplefield’s work at Cologne was the most extensive; where he revealed the remains of a medieval synagogue that he dated to the 11th century. An impressive multistory mikveh (ritual bath), a monument of early medieval engineering was also revealed. New excavations carried out by the City of Cologne on the site since 2007 have confirmed much of Doppelfield’s analysis, but has conclusively pushed the date of synagogue and mikveh back to the Carolingian period and most likely – at least for the synagogue – to late antiquity. Other excavations took place in Worms and Speyer.

Cologne, Germany. Medieval Mikveh, looking up. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber

The aftershocks of the destruction of Jewish communities in the Holocaust continued to influence Jewish scholarship in Europe. Two generations of scholars were lost – precisely those great teachers and their promising students who were most interested in the medieval Jewish past. Those that survived moved to American and Israel, far from the physical remains of European Jewish culture. Jewish medieval studies became again concerned almost totally with texts and movable objects. The methodology of the Center for Jewish Art at the Hebrew University, for example, emphasized iconography over physical context.

Jewish Archaeology in Europe: Contemporary

Nowhere was there any planned effort to identify Jewish sites, nor to further exploit of the opportunities afford by unexpected finds. Throughout the Jewish world “Jewish archaeology” became almost synonymous with the uncovering of ancient Jewish remains, primarily in Israel, but also throughout the Mediterranean littoral, where a number of finds such as those from Ostia (Italy), Sardis (Turkey) and Stobi (Mecedonia) attested to Judaism’s widespread acceptance in the ancient world.

Medieval archaeology itself as a serious discipline with its own rationale and developed methods continued to evolve, especially in Britain (where the influence of the “New Archaeology” was strongest), and in Germany and Italy. Many of the favored archaeological conceptions such as urban archaeology and regional settlement surveys that should have brought more attention to the medieval Jewish component, however, tended to ignore it completely. A close reading of the archaeological literature from Europe between 1960 and 1990 would suggest that Jews were hardly present on the continent – despite their ubiquity in religious, historical, and legal sources as well as historical toponyms in many countries. Thus historians and archaeologists have different perceptions of the place and role of Jewish in the European Middle Ages.

From the 1960s through the 1990s most identification of Jewish materials in Europe was almost entirely accidental. The most spectacular instance was the discovery of a massive Romanesque structure in Rouen, France, in 1976, that may have been a synagogue, but was more likely a yeshiva (Talmudic school) and possibly a scriptorium. In 2002, excavations in Lorca, Spain uncovered the entire plan of a 15th-century synagogue as well as remains of eleven houses of the Jewish quarter, where previously no Jewish settlement was known. Houses contained distinctly Jewish features, including ceramic Hanukah oil lamps. The synagogue included original architectural and decorative features and fragments of more than 50 glass hanging lamps – previously only known from manuscript illuminations and later similar types from North Africa.

Archaeology of Jewish sites has centered on religious and ritual sites. These were the most prominent structures of Jewish communities, especially synagogues and mikvot (ritual baths), building types that are also most likely to incorporate distinguishing features allowing them to be identified as Jewish. These structures have usually been found in the course of building renovation or construction, or as part of other excavations. Recently, as in Regensburg (Germany) and Vienna (Austria), large planned excavations have been carried out at sites where ancient synagogues were known have existed before they were deliberately demolished, and the remains of those buildings and adjacent structures have been exposed. Similar excavations have been advocated for other known sites, such as the medieval synagogue in Budapest.

Vienna, Austria. Preserved remains of the medieval synagogue after excavation and creation of the Judenplatz Museum. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber

In Spain, a more sensitized archaeological profession is now more adept at identifying Jewish sites discovered by accident, and historians and archaeologists are also seeking Jewish remains. A rich array of documentary sources, as in Jaén, can help locate former Jewish settlements in towns and cities throughout Iberia, where medieval juderie are still remembered in local lore and toponyms.

For centuries, traces of many Jewish cemeteries have been found, mostly sites which Jews were forced to abandon during periods of expulsion, or which were expropriated from them by authorities. Commonly, inscribed stone gravestones (matzevot), often in only fragmentary condition, have been found; mostly discovered in locations of re-use, incorporated in later structures, roads, city walls, river embankments, etc. where they served as ready building material. This is true in Spain, Italy, Germany and elsewhere in Europe.

In a few cases, such as York (England), Prague (Czech Republic) and Lucera and Tarrega (Spain) previously forgotten and long unmarked Jewish cemeteries have been discovered in the course of urban development. In the past, such cemeteries might have been entirely destroyed without careful examination. Now, such finds are usually reported to cultural heritage authorities and they are carefully excavated by trained archaeologists. In some cases their Jewish character has been perceived when excavations began, but archaeologists did not consult with present-day Jewish communities. In almost all cases when the burials were identified as Jewish – either before or after excavation – some Jewish organizations, especially representative of Jewish religious communities, have protested the excavation and especially the exhumation of human remains as a violation of Jewish religious practice and law. In cases where the location of medieval Jewish cemeteries is known, Jewish communities have generally encouraged non-intrusive archaeological methods as a means of investigation. Jewish communities and archaeologists are still developing procedures to lessen conflict over cemeteries. So far, in some places, there seem to be irreconcilable differences of opinion and approach.

Maribor, Slovenia. Fragments of medieval Jewish gravestones now in Municipal Museum.
Photo: Ruth Ellen Gruber

Medieval treasures have been uncovered, mostly as accidental discoveries. The two most famous medieval treasure “hoards” are those of Colmar, discovered in 1863 and one from Erfurt found only in 1996. These hoards of money and precious objects were probably hidden in time of persecution and mass murder of Jews, and not recovered. The Colmar treasure contained an elaborate early 14th century wedding ring. Nothing is known of the individuals or groups who hid the treasures other than their apparent wealth, but it is assumed that they died in the massacres of 1348. Similar accidental discoveries of caches of documents and many artifacts of everyday life have been found in genizot, (plural of genizah), storage spaces in synagogues used for discarded texts and ritual items. But with the exception of the famous Genizah of the Ben Ezra Synagogue in Cairo, whose documents have helped rewrite the Jewish and economic history of the Mediterranean region in the Early Middle Ages, these genizot have produced materials only from the 18th century on. In the case of genizot, after a series of accidental discoveries in the 1980s an 1990s in former synagogue south German synagogue buildings, more systematic investigations have been undertaken.

Note: The above text is adapted from two larger articles on “Jewish Archaeology” in press and preparation. I always appreciate new information – historic or contemporary – about all types of investigation of Jewish heritage sites.

Publication: New Book on Ancient Synagogues

Publication: New Book on Ancient Synagogue

(ISJM) ISJM has been notified about a new book published about the art and architecture of the ancient synagogue at Khirbet Gikke (c. 460 CE), located near the Jordan River, on the east Golan Side. The book includes comparative material from other sites in the Golan area and from Chorazin.

Khirbet Dikke and the Synagogues in and around Bethsaida Valley (Archaostyle Scientific Series 7), Qazrin 2009: Archaostyle (191 pp; 58 illustrations; 1 map).

For orders contact the Golan Archaeological Museum (Qazrin)
museumga@netvision.net.il Tel: 972-6961350; Fax 9724694665.

Israel: Synagogue from Second Temple Period Excavated at Migdal

Israel: Synagogue from Second Temple Period Excavated at Migdal

(ISJM) According to the Israel Antiquities Authority, a synagogue from the Second Temple Period (pre-70 CE) was excavated at Migdal, near the Sea of Galilee .The remains appear to have been remarkably well preserved with surviving perimeter benches, floor mosaic and traces of colored wall painting.

The most unusual feature is a large stone covered with symbolic relief carving (see photo). This includes what archaeologists believe is the earliest known representation of a menorah in a synagogue setting. The discovery of the synagogue - during construction of a hotel - adds important new evidence of extensive building of Jewish synagogues prior to the destruction of the Temple. There is still no consensus, however, on what exactly took place in these meeting halls. Torah reading? Study? Individual and collective prayer? When it is fully Migdal will no doubt now be included in the standard synagogue histories in which the Second Temple period is dominated with mention of Gamla and Masada.

Migdal, Israel. Carved stone from the excavated synagogue, Photo: IAA

Here is the IAA Press Release:

A synagogue from the Second Temple period (50 BCE-100 CE) was exposed in archaeological excavations the Israel Antiquities Authority is conducting at a site slated for the construction of a hotel on Migdal beach, in an area owned by the Ark New Gate Company. In the middle of the synagogue is a stone that is engraved with a seven-branched menorah (candelabrum), the likes of which have never been seen. The excavations were directed by archaeologists Dina Avshalom-Gorni and Arfan Najar of the Israel Antiquities Authority.

The main hall of synagogue is c. 120 square meters in area and its stone benches, which served as seats for the worshippers, were built up against the walls of the hall. Its floor was made of mosaic and its walls were treated with colored plaster (frescoes). A square stone, the top and four sides of which are adorned with reliefs, was discovered in the hall. The stone is engraved with a seven-branched menorah set atop a pedestal with a triangular base, which is flanked on either side by an amphora (jars).

According to the excavation director, Dina Avshalom-Gorni of the Israel Antiquities Authority, “We are dealing with an exciting and unique find. This is the first time that a menorah decoration has been discovered from the days when the Second Temple was still standing. This is the first menorah to be discovered in a Jewish context and that dates to the Second Temple period/beginning of the Early Roman period. We can assume that the engraving that appears on the stone, which the Israel Antiquities Authority uncovered, was done by an artist who saw the seven-branched menorah with his own eyes in the Temple in Jerusalem. The synagogue that was uncovered joins just six other synagogues in the world that are known to date to the Second Temple period”.

According to the Minister of Culture and Sport, MK Limor Livnat, “This important find attests to the extensive Jewish settlement in the northern region at the time of the Temple. I am certain that the site will constitute an attraction for tourists from abroad and from Israel and will shed light on life in the Jewish settlement during the Second Temple period”.

Jose Miguel Abat, legal representative of "Ark New Gate" company, expressed his joy for the finding and said it reinforces the company's intention to establish a center of dialogue and respect between the different religions and cultures. Abat said that "we are sure this finding and the planned center will attract tourists and visitors from Israel and from around the World".

The synagogue is located in Migdal (‘Magdala’ in Aramaic), which is mentioned in Jewish sources. Migdal played an important role during the Great Revolt and was actually the main base of Yosef Ben Matityahu (Josephus Flavius), commander of the rebellion in the Galilee. Migdal also continued to resist the Romans after both the Galilee and Tiberias had surrendered. ‘Magdala’ is mentioned in Christian sources as the place whence Mary Magdalene came, one of the women who accompanied Jesus and the apostles and who Christian tradition has sanctified. After it was conquered by the Romans, the city was destroyed and many of its residents were killed. At the end of the Second Temple period Migdal was an administrative center of the western basin of the Sea of Galilee. Until the founding of Tiberias in the year 19 CE, Migdal was the only important settlement along the shore of the Sea of Galilee.

The site is currently closed to visitors and will be opened to the public in the future.

Turkey: Remains of Ancient Synagogue Found in South Coast City of Andriake

Turkey: Remains of Ancient Synagogue Found in South Coast City of Andriake
by Samuel D. Gruber

(ISJM) The Turkish Press site Today's Zaman reported on August 12th (2009) the discovery of an ancient synagogue in the Lycian port city of Andriake, located on the south coast of Anatolia in a region rich in archaeological sites.

The building is the first synagogue discovered in the ancient province of Lycia, but remains of other ancient synagogues in Turkey have been found in Priene on the Ionian coast, and at Sardis north of Andriake. There are numerous ancient textual references to the once-large Jewish population of the Greco-Roman Anatolian coastal towns, including of course, the writings of Saint Paul, who was a Jew from Anatolian Tarsus (further east along the coast).

The location of the apsidal synagogue was near the sea, recalling the location of synagogues of Ostia (Italy) and Thessaloniki ( Greece). The discovery may give support to arguments that favor waterside locations for ancient synagogues.

The most notable find from the synagogue is an inscribed marble relief slab of a menorah flanked by lulav, etrog and shofar. Similar inscribed plaques have been found at Priene, Sardis and eleswhere [for more see: Steven Fine and Leonard Victor Rutgers, "New Light on Judaism in Asia Minor During Late Antiquity: Two Recently Identified Inscribed Menorahs," in Jewish Studies Quarterly (1996), 2-23.]

The Today's Zaman Story is here:

Jewish temple found in ancient port city at Lycian site

A centuries-old Jewish temple has been uncovered in Antalya during the excavation of an ancient port city.

Ongoing excavations at the ancient port city of Andriake in Lycia -- located in Antalya's Demre district -- have uncovered a centuries-old Jewish temple.

Site chief Dr. Nevzat Çevik, an archaeology professor at Akdeniz University, told the Anatolia news agency that his team believes the temple is from around the third century. Located on a choice spot facing the sea, the temple was likely built following a law instituted in 212 that allowed Jews the right to become Roman citizens, Çevik said.

The find is important as it is the first archaeological trace of Jewish culture found in Lycia. “For the archaeological world, the world of science and particularly for Lycian archaeology and history, we're facing an important find here. It's the first remnant of Lycian Jewish culture we've found,” Çevik said, describing the find. “When we first discovered the temple, we weren't sure what it was, but after continuing to dig, the archaeological findings and particularly the first-quality marble slabs that we found were evidence for us that they were part of a Jewish temple.”

The finding came as a great surprise, the archaeologist said, and the team is continuing to work excitedly. “To encounter remnants of Jewish culture for the first time has caused great excitement. We're adding another layer to what we know of Lycian culture -- now that we know that there was a Jewish presence in Lycia as well, we can follow this path and better understand other finds,” he explained.

As part of the temple find, the team located a menorah and pieces inscribed with traditional Jewish symbols and figures. Çevik also noted the importance that the find would eventually have for tourism in the region.

Germany: Back to the Drawing Board for Cologne Jewish Museum

Germany: Back to the Drawing Board for Cologne Jewish Museum
by Samuel D. Gruber

Cologne, Germany. Visitors try to view medieval mikvah protected (hidden) beneath a glass pyramid.
Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 1989.

Cologne, Germany. View from mikvah towards Rathaus (City Hall) with synagogue excavation in between. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2007.

(ISJM) Last month the plug was pulled on plans to construct an impressive (some would say too impressive) Jewish museum in the historic Jewish center of Cologne, Germany, exactly atop the site of the former synagogue, which archaeologists believe may date to as early as the 4th century C.E. I wrote about this project last summer.

Plans for the museum were announced with great hoopla last year by a private association that received the rights to build and operate the center on one of the most important sites in the city - immediately across from the town hall, and almost adjacent to the Wallraf-Richartz Museum C built after 1996 and designed by noted Cologne architect Oswald Mathias Unger . This entire civic area sits atop the ancient Roman administrative center.

The private Association "Society for the Promotion of a House and Museum of Jewish Culture" that was to finance the Jewish Museum wrote to the Cologne City Council that it did not have the funds for the project nor would it be able to raise them. The Society cited the present poor economic situation as the reason for its inability to fund the project, but this seems an excuse, since it was clear at the time of the acceptance of the project that the Association did not have the funds needed nor did they have a reliable plan for raising the needed money. Skeptics last year claimed the project unfeasible and that in the end the city would be shamed in to taking it over - in order to salvage an important cultural endeavor, but also to escape charges of neglect of Jewish history.

Now the question is - have expectations been raised for this large institution - and will the city council feel obliged to step in and rescue the plan? No decision will be made until after local elections on August 30th. Mayor Fritz Schramma (CDU) has in the past preferred a smaller plan that would incorporate the synagogue remains into the large archaeological park that includes all of the excavated ancient and medieval elements in the area.

Cologne, Germany. Plan of medieval Jewish quarter from C. Cluse, ed., The Jews of Europe in the Middle Ages (Tenth to Fifteenth Centuries (Proceedings of the International Symposium held at Speyer, 20-25 October 2002), p 374

To me, this is a sensible approach. In the end more people would learn of the long presence of Jews in Cologne, and all would better understand Jewish history in the city as one that was long integrated into the urban, social and economic fabric. There can still a plenty of room for detailed historic and interpretive exhibitions and temporary displays focusing on different aspects of Jewish history and Judaism.

Cologne, Germany. City archaeologist Sven Schuette explains the medieval history and topography of the Jewish quarter, shows a model of the synagogue within the larger archaeological zone, and exhibits a few of the many finds that have been recovered since the 1950s excavation was reopened and expanded in 2007. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber (2007)

Italy: Archaeology of Jewish Settlement in Alghero, Sardinia

Italy -- Archaeology of Jewish Settlement in Sardinia

Ruth Ellen Gruber reports that there was a conference this weekend about Jewish history in Alghero, a small town on the northwest coast of Sardinia where Jews settled in the mid-14th century. One of the principal speakers was Mauro Milanese, an archeologist who has directed excavations in Alghero's old Jewish quarter.

Click here for Ruth's blog.

Spain: Inauguration of Exhibition "Lorca, Lights of Sepharad"

Spain: Inauguration of Exhibition "Lorca, Lights of Sepharad" on January 29th, 2009
by Samuel D. Gruber

(ISJM) Next week, the government of the Spanish Region of Murcia will open a new exhibition about the medieval synagogue and Jewish quarter of Lorca. The exhibition presents and interprets the archaeological evidence and material finds of excavation that began in 2003 in the precinct of Lorca’s 15th-century castle. Archaeologists, led by Ana Pujante Martínez and Juan Gallardo, uncovered the remains a synagogue and of houses of the surrounding Jewish quarter. Remains of the synagogue and one of the houses are being conserved to be incorporated into a museum.

The Jewish quarter, the synagogue and the many identifiably Jewish objects found in their rubble constitute one of the most important Jewish archaeological finds in recent decades. Plans are being discussed to have the exhibition travel abroad after 2010.

The synagogue consisted of a main prayer hall 134 square meters in size with built in benches around the perimeter, large enough to accommodate 70 worshipers. An Aron ha-Kodesh was situated on the east wall, and foundations to support a bimah were found in the center of the room. The prayer hall was preceded by an open courtyard, which led to a small vestibule with a place for washing. Above this was a small gallery of 8 square meters – presumably for women - which had collapsed into the vestibule area. The small space makes one wonder, however, whether women may have been accommodated elsewhere in the hall, perhaps separated by a temporary divider – now gone.

The museum of the synagogue will be part of the future luxury Parador hotel which will open in the castle, situated up the hill from the former Jewish quarter The remains of the synagogue and surrounding buildings were found when construction began on the luxury hotel which will be situated in the castle. Published plans call for the synagogue to be protected by a structure 43 meters long and 27 wide, with a total area of over one thousand square meters and a height ranging between five and 2'10 meters. This protective cover will keep a constant temperature to prevent thermal changes affecting the archaeological remains. I will be visiting the site next week in conjunction with the exhibition opening and will learn more about its future.

In 2006, some of the glass finds from the Jewish quarter and synagogue excavations were presented at the conference "The glass of the Middle Ages and Andalusí" held at the Royal Factory Crystals of La Granja. The synagogue lamps dating from the 15th century have been restored for the new exhibition. These glass lamps are considered among the most important recent archaeological finds in Spain. At least 15 lamps have been reconstructed using nearly 3,000 shards of glass uncovered in the excavation. These lamps are a tangible link to the appearance of medieval synagogues previously known Conservation work was funded by the Patrimonio Histórico de la Dirección General de Cultura y del Museo Arqueológico Municipal (Heritage Service of the Directorate General for Culture and the Municipal Archaeological Museum).


A video view of the excavation can be seen on youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-Soh8Jln5g

To read more see:

Un 'tesoro' excepcional entre los muros de la sinagoga

http://www.arqueologiamedieval.com/noticias/noticias.asp?ref=1042

Spain: Barcelona Museum Hosts Seminar on Jewish Cemeteries

Spain: Barcelona Museum Hosts Seminar on Jewish Cemeteries
by Samuel D. Gruber

(ISJM) The Museum of History of Barcelona will host the two-day conference "Archaeological Intervention on Historical Necropolises: Jewish Cemeteries" on January 15th and 16th, 2009. This is a timely topic, given the current controversy about the medieval Jewish cemetery at Toledo.

The mission of the museum "is the reassessment of the historic heritage of Barcelona, whether the items are movable or immovable. In other words, the museum is responsible for the conservation, research, and dissemination of the objects and buildings that are significant for our collective history and that exemplify the city's past... the best city museum is the city itself, and that it is in its streets, squares, and buildings where we can interpret the passage of time and the interaction of the men and women that have made, throughout the centuries, today's Barcelona possible"

According to the program, the seminar has been organized because:

The artistic, historical and cultural heritage forms an asset which, following its institutional recognition and classification, is safeguarded by the public administrations. This heritage, formed by elements and ensembles which the successive historical legacies have left in a territory,consists of very different types of cultural goods in which the respective collectives as a whole recognise themselves. In the case of the medieval Jewish legacy, Barcelona has recently opened the Barcelona Jewish Quarter Information Centre and the city also possesses an important Jewish necropolis on Montjuic hill. These are historical expressions of a period in the city's past when the Jewish community played a highly significant role.

The Jewish inheritance is a valuable legacy of Barcelona which is being added progressively to the city's visible heritage. For this reason, before acting on the necropolis of Monjuic, it is appropriate to sediment [sic] the legal and scientific arguments which will allow action to be taken there will all due rigour and the necessary sensitivity. This conference, which is open to all interested persons and which will be welcoming experts and professionals from different places in the world, proposes to analyze the vicissitudes experienced in other actions on Jewish necropolises, and then to approach the case of Barcelona from the legal and scientific standpoints.

The need for forums in Catalonia and throughout the rest of Spain for discussion of issues related to the documentation, protection, preservation and presentation of Jewish heritage is great, therefore the scheduling of this conference in Barcelona is important. I fear, however, that the views expressed by the invited experts may not reflect a representative sample of opinion. The very wording of the statement of purpose of the seminar, which sets out to examine the question of the Barcelona Jewish cemetery from a "legal and scientific" standpoints suggests that others approaches - religious, ethical, moral, historical and cultural - may get short shrift. I hope not. These approaches need to be considered as part of archaeology, too.

The seminar features presentations from distinguished speakers - many of whom I admire greatly. From the program, however, it appears that the bulk of presentations are by archaeologists - some of whom are on record as being dissatisfied with resolutions where human remains from medieval cemeteries have been re-interred, or those in the field of heritage site management. There is no presentation of Jewish law or tradition from a scholar or authority on Jewish burial practices to provide appropriate balance. There is participation of one representative from the Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain on the round table "Models and protocols of intervention on medieval cemeteries in Catalonia." Given that the Federation recently signed a protocol (since rejected) which would have allowed the essentially unhindered excavation of cemeteries in favor of development projects, this particular representation does necessarily speak to the protection of cemetery sites. Without the discussion of the religious factors and inclusion of religious viewpoints as part of the discussion, any solutions proposed from the seminar are bound to be questioned and are likely to fail. Including all sides in the discussion is, of course, a messy business. But so is digging up cemeteries.

The seminar organizers seem to accept a priori that the Jewish cemetery in Barcelona (and by association, all other such cemeteries in the region) is first and foremost an archaeological site and can and should be considered as part of the archaeological heritage of the region. Even the seminar speakers who I can recognize as being Jewish come from mostly an archaeological background, or are professionally engaged in the presentation of archaeological sites.

I would put forward the claim the Montjuic is not an archaeological site - but a religious, historical, cultural and urban site - both sacred and communal - and therefore needs to be considered under a different set of assumptions, standards and expectations than archaeological sites.

True, many archaeological techniques of survey, mapping, testing, conservation and interpretation can be applied at Montjuic, without excavation of the human remains. This is the type of "scientific" work that should be proposed and pursued.

I hope that the conference will be recorded and/or transcribed. The presentation will certainly be important contribution to the continuing discussions on how to interpret and preserve the medieval Jewish heritage in Spain.