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Artifact Analysis
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- The Magdala Stone
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When the Catholic Legionaries of Christ were excavating a foundation for a new pilgrim center in Magdala, along the Sea of Galilee, they unearthed the remains of a first century C.E. synagogue, the earliest synagogue found in the Galilee region and the only one found yet that dates to Jesus' lifetime (a coin in the synagogue bears the stamp 29 C.E.). Eventually, they uncovered a marketplace and fishermen's quarters as well.-
 But the most stunning discovery was in the synagogue, where a carved stone table—perhaps a platform for the Torah scroll—was unearthed. It is carved with images of the Herodian Second Temple in Jerusalem, such as a seven-branched menorah, vases for oil and water, and a fiery chariot—an image of the seat of God drawn from Ezekiel's famous merkabah (chariot) vision (Ezek 1). The stone's discovery is changing all of our thinking about the nature of synagogues in Jesus' time, the relationship of the Galilee to Jerusalem, and the features of the temple itself.-
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- Website
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- Magdala Project - the official excavation site, hosted by the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum, Faculty of Biblical Sciences and Archaeology.
- Israel Antiquities Authority: Migdal - a brief description of the fishing boat found in the mud of ancient Magdala, not far south of Capernaum.
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- Bibliography
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- Aviam, Mordechai. "The Decorated Stone from the Synagogue at Migdal: A Holistic Interpretation and a Glimpse into the Life of Galilean Jews at the Time of Jesus." Novum Testamentum 55:3 (2013) 205-220.
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- De Luca, Stefano and Anna Lena. "Magdala/Taricheae." In Galilee in the Late Second Temple and Mishnaic Periods, vol. 2, The Archaeological Record from Cities, Towns, and Villages (ed David A. Fiensy and James Riley Strange; Minneapolis: Fortress, 2015) 280-342.
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- Kershner, Isabel. "A Carved Stone Block Upends Assumptions about Ancient Judaism." New York Times (8 December 2015), online, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/09/world/middleeast/magdala-stone-israel-judaism.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=mini-moth®ion=top-stories-below&WT.nav=top-stories-below&_r=0, accessed 9 December 2015. [Popular]
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- --------. "A Resort in Galilee Rises Where Jesus May Have Taught." New York Times (13 May 2014). Online, http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/14/world/
middleeast/a-resort-in-galilee-rises-where-jesus-may-have-taught.html, accessed 4 April 2015. [Popular]
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