Field O: Synagogue Site Excavations (Archaeological Reports)

In the northwest quarter of the site of Caesarea Maritima is Field O, the location known as "the synagogue site and Jewish Quarter." Although excavated in 1956 and 1962, archaeologists and scholars researching the excavation results have been limited to seeing a brush-choked patch of excavated ruins, viewing a few artifacts in museums, and to the frustrating examination of the confusing, often contradictory published preliminary reports. For whatever reason, there was no final report published and there were no published photographs, site plans, or plans of the structures. This lack of clear understanding threatened to keep the site out of the corpus of synagogue sites forever. Now comprehensive research has discovered previously unknown records from the 1962 excavations and produced a comparative study of the 1945/46, 1956/62, and 1982/84 excavation photographs and the complete findings from the Joint Expedition to Caesarea Maritima survey and excavation seasons. Included for the first time are a site plan of the excavated remains and reconstruction drawings of the excavated structures.