Church discovered in Israel is 1,500 years old

ISRAELI archaeologists presented a newly uncovered 1,500-year-old church in the Judean hills yesterday, including an unusually well- preserved mosaic floor with images of lions, foxes, fish and peacocks.

The Byzantine church south-west of Jerusalem, excavated over the last two months, will be visible for another week before archaeologists cover it again with soil to protect it — until funding is obtained to open it as a tourist site.

The small basilica with an exquisitely decorated floor was active between the fifth and seventh centuries AD, said the dig’s leader, Amir Ganor of the Israel Antiquities Authority.

He said the floor was “one of the most beautiful mosaics to be uncovered in Israel in recent years”.

“It is unique in its craftsmanship and level of preservation,” he said.

Archaeologists began digging at the site, known as Hirbet Madras, in December. The Antiquities Authority discovered several months earlier that antiquities thieves had begun plundering the ruins, which sit on an uninhabited hill not far from an Israeli farming community.

Though an initial survey suggested the building was a synagogue, the excavation revealed stones carved with crosses, identifying it as a church. The building was built on another structure around 500 years older, dating to Roman times.

Archaeologists believe a network of tunnels in the rock were used by Jewish rebels fighting Roman armies in the second century AD. Scholars say stone steps from the church floor to a small burial cave might have been venerated as the burial place of Old Testament prophet Zecharia.