Huqoq is an ancient Jewish village near Migdal, the hometown of Mary Magdalene, and close to Capernaum, the center of Jesus’ Galilean ministry. The University of Toronto has joined a consortium of schools directed by Professor JodiﾠMagness of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill in excavation on the site. Prof. Magness’s initial research goal was to find an intact synagogue which could then be excavated with careful chronological control to determine the date of construction. At the same time she planned to carefully document all periods of occupation including a Byzantine-Islamic domestic occupation and the remains of a Palestinian village that stood on the site until 1967. The project has been fortunate to uncover the remains of an intact synagogue with stunning mosaics. University of Toronto students have had the opportunity to participate in this major discovery and the ongoing excavations at the site.
More information about the mosaics are available in an article published by Jodi Magness in Biblical Archaeology Review. To link to the article please click here. And for more information about Huqoq, visit the project website, here: http://huqoq.web.unc.edu/.
University of Toronto Contact: Michael Chazan (mchazan@chass.utoronto.ca)
