Anna Lena PhD

The article provides a first description and interpretation of the decoration, development and potential function of a worked basalt block found by Fran- ciscan archaeologists before 2000 at Magdala/Galilee (“Magdala Stone II”). With this publication, the authors not only wish to contribute to the scholarly discussion on ancient Galilean material culture, but also hope to broaden the debate on two other, seemingly similar stone objects “Magdala Stone I” and “Horvat Kur Stone”.

Il saggio presenta i primi risultati dell’analisi e dell’identificazione dei resti vegetali e malacologici, integrati con i dati di un’analisi micropaleontologica, eseguite su sedimenti provenienti dal porto e dal sito archeologico di Magdala, sulla costa occidentale del Mare di Galilea (Israele). La ricerca, condotta con approccio multidisciplinare, getta nuova luce sulla storia della città e sulla storia geologica della porzione di costa corrispondente. Poiché a tutt’oggi non sono disponibili studi geoarcheologici specifici su porti lacustri antichi, Magdala rappresenta un caso di primaria importanza. I risultati dell’analisi dei materiali impregnati d’acqua nei sedimenti del porto, che possono essere considerati un bio-archivio, contribuiscono in modo sostanziale alla ricostruzione del paleoambiente. Ne risulta un quadro sufficientemente chiaro e delineato del paesaggio agreste della Galilea in età tardoellenistica e romana, un periodo nel quale la città di Magdala e il suo porto...

Magdala war die bedeutendste Stadt der Region – ein Zentrum für Fischerei und Fischereiprodukte. Dass es sich hier auch gut leben ließ, zeigen die spektakulären Funde, die nun ausgewertet werden. Die Entdeckungen in Magdala haben unsere Sicht auf Galiläa fundamental verändert.

The work aims to present the very first results of the analysis and identification of vegetal and malacological remains – integrated with data from a micropalaeontological analysis – performed on some sediments of the harbour of the archaeological site of Magdala, on the western coast of the Lake of Galilee (Israel). The research at the site, which was carried out by means of a transdisciplinary approach, has shed a new light on the history of the city and on the geological history of this portion of the coast. As no geoarchaeological studies on specifically lacustrine ancient harbours are available to date, Magdala represents a case study of pivotal importance. The results of the analysis on the materials waterlogged in the harbour sediments – which can be considered a bio-archive – have contributed considerably to the palaeonvironmental reconstruction. The data that emerges from this preliminary study gives a reasonably clear and well delineated picture of the agrestic environment of Galilee in the Late Hellenistic and Roman period, a period In which the city of Magdala and its harbour achieved their greatest prosperity providing reliable evidence for the existence of a local and regional trade network at this moment of its history.

The harbor of Magdala/Taricheae, uncovered during the 2007–2011 Magdala Project archaeological campaigns, represents the only stonework-landing place stratigraphically excavated, along the shores of the Sea of Galilee (Lake Kinneret) in Israel.
The Magdala harbor has three phases of use: late Hellenistic (2nd–1st centuries B.C.), Early-Middle Roman (1st–3rd century A.D.) and Byzantine (6th–7th centuries A.D.). These phases are consistent with the development of the urban settlement, which is also currently being investigated, also through a geological approach.
Tarichaee and its administrative district were founded under the Hasmoneans and was the main urban site of the region, prior to the establishment of Tiberias as the capital. The prominence of the city and its principal economic activity, based on transformation and export of fish – hence the name Taricheae –, are well documented by the historical sources.
The first harbor consists of a quadriporticus and a Hasmonean tower, both having two sides facing the lake, and with mooring stones. The second has an inner basin, a landing place provided of 4 mooring stones in situ and a flagged platea connected with the city entrance. The Byzantine-Islamic anchorage, described in the 70’s–90’s, is no longer visible. However, it served the fortified monastery built to aid the Christian pilgrims who visited the sanctuary dedicate to Mary Magdalene.
The other 30 landing places around the lake are set ca. 3 m lower than the Hellenistic-Roman harbors of Magdala. For this reason, the analysis takes into account also the geological and environmental data, as well as the latest archaeological discoveries on the lakeshores.
This contribution intends to present the lacustrine harbor of Magdala/Tarichaee, as the result of the on-going Magdala Project excavations1. The architecture of the harbor will be analyzed with a regional-based approach, taking into account the latest archaeological data from the ancient sites on the shores of the Lake of
Galilee, as well as the main geological and environmental research achievements.
The state of the archaeological investigations in the area and the historical frame of
the city will be briefly provided. The examination of the urban context will help to
better understand the chronological phases of the harbor remains.

With the recent excavations of the Magdala Project, the authors of this article have completed the explorations of the large thermal bath complex adjoining the Taricheae’s port area. By combining geological and archaeological investigations, it has been established that the occupational phases of the settlement date back to the Late Hellenistic period.
It was also possible to explore both the water system supply, and the drainage system belonging to the stepped pools, connected to the caldarium E19 with its praefurnium E30 that were already in use in the first half of the 1st century AD.
During the last 2011 campaign, a large part of the excavation took place in the Area C. The building of Block C, as we have previously wrote, were part of the same thermal complex as of the southern areas E-D.
This led us to reconsider the function of the famous figural mosaic along with the Greek inscription, which both are placed in the floor of room C6. Already in the past other authors have made statements about these mosaics.
The reassessed chronology indicates that the architectural and archaeological contexts of the entire thermal complex and of Area C have three phases. The interpretation of the epigraphic and iconographic elements of the mosaic floor were reconsidered accordingly.
We have reached a new and more complete reading of the subject. All of its elements can now be interpreted as being part of a homogeneous and coherent decorative program. Even if this program remains a unicum in the figurative context of Galilee of the first century A.D., the mosaic conveys similar taste, themes and cultural awareness common to the entire pagan Mediterranean world.

"L’Oriente fra Storia e Archeologia"; CICLO DI CONFERENZE SULL’ORIENTE ANTICO. Con la partecipazione e il patrocinio di: Comune di Anzola dell’Emilia, Comune di Calderara di Reno, Comune di Crevalcore, Comune di San Giovanni in Persiceto, Comune di Sant’Agata Bolognese, Partecipanza Agraria di Sant’Agata Bolognese, Consorzio dei Partecipanti di San Giovanni in Persiceto, Museo del Cielo e della Terra.
6 aprile 2017 ore 21,00; Sant’Agata Bolognese, Sala delle Colonne.

"Magdala-Jerusalem, 6th-8th June 2011
A seminar of three days has been devoted to the archaeological site of Magdala, where the Custody of the Holy Land started excavation work 40 years ago, in 1971, through the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum. “Magdala in Context”, which runs June 6-8, first in Magdala and then in Jerusalem, will bring together specialists and archaeologists from Italy, Spain and Israel for a three-day seminar promoted by SBF,Magdala Project, Pontifical University of Salamanca and the Spanish Biblical and Archaeological Institute of Jerusalem. The theme is the contextualization of the archaeological discoveries made in the city of Galilee through a multidisciplinary approach. Stefano De Luca is director of the Magdala Project. He explains that collaboration with the Spanish University has, for example, the aim of “understanding the social context of the city of Magdala and the activity of Jesus in those places.” The situation of the ExcavationsTo date, a vast portion of the urban fabric has been brought to the light with its buildings, its villas with their mosaics, the paved streets and a large square with porticoes. In 2008, thermal swimming pools were discovered with precious finds of ceramic crockery, jars for perfumes, jewelery and implements for make-up. At present, the mission of the Magdala Project is to study the so-called “complex C”, with multi-disciplinary investigations under way to complete the study of important remains of the port that have been discovered since 2008.

On the 6th of April 2011, in a conference in memory of the scholar of the Lake, Mendel Nun, held at the Kinneret Academic College, Stefano De Luca and Anna Lena gave a speech about the recent discovery of the Harbour of Magdala which offers new elements not only for the archaeology of the site but for the entire Region.