The Excavation of a Roman-Period Village and Synagogue at Majduliyya

Majduliyya is a rural Roman-period site in the Golan on the border of the ancient administrative districts of Gaulantitis and Hippos. The main goal of the ongoing excavations at the site is to characterize the local architectural setting and material culture of a rural Roman period village in the Golan and to study interregional, intra-regional and urban-rural socioeconomic relationships in the region. The surveys and excavations conducted to date have provided information on the plan and architecture of the site, including a public structure, private dwellings and agricultural installations. The findings from the pottery and coins provide evidence that the settlement dates mainly from the Roman period-from the first ccntury BCE through the late third century CE- A nd did not continue into the Byzantine period (part of the village was resettled for a short time in the Early Islamic and Mamluk periods). The main significant initial results, summarized in this article, include a Roman-period synagogue at Majduliyya that provides a missing link in Golan synagogues (between the earliest one known from Gamla and the later ones, which flourished in the Byzantine period), a pottery kiln, olive-press remains and residential structures.