Image Details

Jim Haberman

BITS AND PIECES. Clumps of small stone tesserae in the fill just inside the synagogue’s plastered eastern wall (visible at bottom of photo) hinted at the presence of a mosaic. When the scrape of a hoe finally revealed a woman’s face in the dirt, it became clear that the synagogue boasted a high-quality mosaic pavement. Only a few preserved sections have been exposed thus far inside the excavation square. The border includes a broad white area (at the bottom of the photo) and black strips on either side of a braided guilloche motif.