From the Jerusalem Post: Ancient riddle eludes archeologists.
Posted on August 21, 2005 10:36 PM. Filed under: history & archaeology.University of Haifa archeologists digging in the ancient city of Hippos-Sussita have uncovered more than what they expected this season. One of their surprises was the discovery of a lintel from a structure built during the Byzantine era with Jewish symbols, which was originally thought to be a synagogue, but now believed to be a church.
The sixth season of the archeological excavation at Hippos-Sussita overlooking Kibbutz Ein Gev on the eastern shore of the Kinneret, has produced several astonishments like the lintel, says Prof. Arthur Segal of the university's Zinman Institute of Archeology. The lintel was uncovered in a public building in the southwestern residential quarter of Sussita, which according to Ancient Jewish sources indicated that such a synagogue existed in this predominantly Greek city.
Segal later reached the conclusion that it was actually a church. He explained that the structure could have served first as a synagogue and later been turned into a church. In another explanation he suggested that the synagogue may have existed in close proximity to the church, and following the synagogue's destruction the lintel was reused in the church. [continue]