Israel is called the holy land for a reason. Archaeologists are almost always on hand in Israel when a new construction is proposed. Let’s face it, you can’t drop a shovel without finding something of historical significance.
Most recently, experts working in Israel unearthed the ruins of a 1,500-year-old Byzantine church, complete with stunning mosaic designs in Moshav Aluma, Israel a village about 30 miles (50 kilometers) south of Tel Aviv, during construction of a new neighborhood.
Excavator Davida Eisenberg Degen said the team used an industrial digger to probe a mound at the site, and through a 10-foot (3 meters) hole, they could see the white tiles of an ancient mosaic.
While most Byzantine villages had houses of worship, Davida Eisenberg Degen, who excavated at the site, told the outlet that this particular church’s location distinguishes it from other worship centers. Considering its central location near a main road, it likely served as a church that was used by a number of communities — not just locals.
“An impressive basilica building was discovered at the site, 22 meters long and 12 meters wide. The building consists of a central hall with two side aisles divided by marble pillars,” archaeologist Dr. Daniel Varga explained in a press release announcing the find.
The excavators plan to keep working on the site for another week, but one of the most remarkable finds so far was a mosaic containing a Christogram, or a “type of monogram of the name of Jesus,” Degen said.
At the time, Byzantine Christians wouldn’t have put crosses on their mosaic floors so as to not step on the symbol of Christ, Degen explained. The Christogram in the mosaic may look like a cross, but it’s actually more like a “chi rho” symbol, which puts together the first two captial letters in the Greek word for Christ, and often looks like an X superimposed on a P.
There is an alpha and omega (the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet) on either side of the chi rho, which is another Christian symbol, as Christ was often described as the “”the beginning and the end.” Four birds also decorate the mosaic, and two of them are holding up a wreath to the top of the chi rho.
The archaeologists found traces of later occupation on top of the church, including early Islamic walls and Ottoman garbage pits. (Aluma is located near the Ottoman and later Palestinian village of Hatta.)
To avoid building over ancient sites, archaeologists are often brought in for salvage digs ahead of construction projects like this one, sometimes yielding stunning discoveries.
the IAA plans to remove the mosaic for display at a regional museum or visitors’ center, and the rest of the site will be covered back up.
