Jodi Magness, Kenan Distinguished Professor for Teaching Excellence in Early Judaism, was recently featured in UNC’s Arts & Sciences magazine. This article, written by Kim Weaver Spurr, features Professor Magness and her decade-long archeological dig at Huqoq, an ancient Jewish village in Israel’s Lower Galilee. To read the full-length story, and to see some amazing pictures from this part of the world, CLICK HERE!
A UNC-led archaeological team in Israel’s Lower Galilee has uncovered stunning biblical mosaics at an ancient synagogue, like this one of Samson carrying the gate of Gaza on his shoulders from Judges 16:3.
Magness began work at this site in 2011, leading to incredible discoveries that, as Spurr writes, “are transforming what we know about Jewish life in ancient Palestine.” Spurr continues by stating that “Magness began digging at Huqoq in 2011 because of big research questions she was hoping to answer. There is nothing in early rabbinic literature that would have prepared her for a synagogue like Huqoq, she said, and that’s where archaeology is helping to fill in the gaps and illuminate the dynamism and complexity of Jewish life 1,600 years ago.”
Jodi Magness’ husband, Jim Haberman, captured this shot of her standing on the synagogue’s east wall on the last day of excavations.
“During their years at Huqoq, Magness, a host of international specialists and hundreds of field school students from multiple consortium schools would continue to uncover myriad amazing finds, including the first non-biblical story ever discovered in an ancient synagogue…”