Archaeologists in Israel have uncovered the walls of a 1,500-year-old church in the country’s northern Negev Desert near Gaza. The Israel Antiquities Authority called the discovery along an ancient Roman road a “very big surprise.”
It featured drawings from Christian pilgrims who most likely made their first inland stop at the church after arriving from across the Roman Empire during the 5th and 6th centuries, before they continued on their way to Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Excavation directors said the etchings on the walls that depicted ships were like a “greeting from the pilgrims arriving by ship” at a Gaza port.
Pilgrimages to sites associated with the life of Jesus and Biblical events became increasingly popular among Christians after Emperor Constantine’s conversion to Christianity around the year 300.
Crosswalk Headlines reports the Byzantine-era church was unearthed at an excavation site at the Bedouin town of Rahat, just north of Beersheba. The church would have been a half-a-day’s walk from the Mediterranean coast at the time.
One of the ship illustrations on the church walls is a simple line drawing, with a slightly pointed bow and discernible oars on both sides. It’s similar to some etched ship designs left by pilgrims in Jerusalem’s Holy Sepulchre church. Other similar etchings thought to be 2,000-years-old, were discovered several years ago on the walls of an ancient cistern in Beersheba.
Another drawing depicts what is apparently a two-masted ship. The main mast has no sail, but seems to show a small flag in its upper section. The foremast is slightly raked towards the bow and bears a sail known as an artemon. The exacting detail indicates the artist’s familiarity with maritime life according to the archaeologists.
The northern Negev region not only contained pilgrim routes, but was densely populated during the Byzantine period. Except for the modern era, this was the only period when the entire Holy Land was extensively settled, even reaching into previously remote areas.
All Israel News reports farmers of this time developed expertise in irrigating arid and remote regions by collecting scarce rainwater from large catchment areas. Many scholars believe that the population of the Holy Land during this period exceeded one million inhabitants.
This local population was supplemented by numerous Christian pilgrims visiting the land annually, as well as Roman Christian clergy who, for the first time in history (aside from perhaps the Jewish Essenes), sought to develop monastic life in the remote areas of the Holy Land.
Photo: Israel Antiquities Authority (showing aerial view of Rahat excavation site)
