Ancient Christian Community in Israel Revealed

NETANYA, Israel- A Christian community from the Byzantine era, dating from the 5th or 6th century, revealed itself to the west of Highway 2, and right in the middle of the planned interchange on the southern edge of Netanya.

Netanya originally had a plan to make an interchange to be connected to the country's main coastal highway. The earthmovers and cranes were not allowed on the construction site until the state archaeologists first examined what lied beneath. Through examination, it was found out that something was beneath.

After two months of digging, ancient Christian community was revealed. Limestone foundations of a religious site have been unearthed, built around a series of tile mosaics. The Israel Antiquities Authority thinks that it was a church, or convent.

The site includes the base of a baptismal font and a crypt that was presumed to have been used for a holy person.

They found foundations of buildings that were used for storing agriculture products. Items like pottery, coins and bones have been removed, but archaeologists would like to spend several more months on this excavation.

Gili Hillel, an archaeologists from the Antiquities Authority, said that they would still have to dig more. He added that it was a large site, but they didn't figure out the scale yet.

Rami Gobernik, a spokesman for the Netanya municipality, said that the city would preserve the site, but had not made a final decision.

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photo

Rina Castelnuovo for The New York Times
Israeli archaeologists studied what are believed to be Christian ruins of the fifth or sixth century discovered by workers building a highway.

The New York Times
The site is near Highway 2, south of the seaside town of Netanya.
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