Northeast Insula Project – at Hippos of the Decapolis (Sussita) [now in the Publication Phase]

June 23, 2019

Study Season Begins

by Dr. Mark Schuler • 2019, Research Phase

Site plan of NIP labeling walls — Wall schematic of NIP

With the assistance of Robert Schrader and Dr. Michael Dorner, I will begin a study season of the Northeast Insula Project at the Hippos Excavations on Sunday 30 June. Originally this season was to be the first month of a sabbatical year, but the sabbatical has been postponed. Nonetheless, during this field season we plan to re-document the site using a BLK360 laser scanner. My particular interest is to re-examine and determine the exact sequencing of the surviving structures in order to refine the history of the NIP. I intend also to do significant writing about the site that will become part of the final report.

Travel to Israel begins this week.

February 9, 2019

Sabbatical Approved

by Mark Schuler (administrator) • Research Phase, Sabbatical

Thanks to actions of the Board of Regents at Concordia Saint Paul, I have been approved for a sabbatical for the coming school year. The primary purpose of this sabbatical is to prepare a final report on the Northeast Insula Project at the Hippos Excavations.

I will again spend a month this summer at Sussita conducting a study season. I will completely re-examine and re-describe the site. Part of this work will involve making a 3D digital scan of the complete work using the Leica BLK360 scanner.

I also plan to use this blog site to track the work and update followers on my progress.

Again, my thanks to the university for making this sabbatical possible.

June 8, 2018

Sussita Mountain

by Dr. Mark Schuler • Research Phase

From our colleagues in Israel …

Hippos – סוסיתא‎ by GeoDrones on Sketchfab

May 8, 2018

Upcoming Lecture: Christian Identity from the ground up: a case study of Hippos Palaistinēs

by Mark Schuler (administrator) • Research Phase

Dr. Schuler will deliver a plenary lecture at the upcoming meeting of the Society of LCMS Theological Professors at Concordia Wisconsin on 23 May.

Prospectus: This paper explores the formation of Christian identity at the site as has been revealed in recent excavations. The paper highlights the role of church construction in supplanting paganism, the reverence of the sacred dead within the city in contrast to pagan and Jewish practices, the novel practice of religious community in an urban context, and the import of baptism and the eucharist in the move toward Chalcedonian Christianity. Evidence of residual pagan practices in Christian contexts illustrates the fluid and incomplete nature of that identity formation.

April 2, 2018

The End of Christianity at Hippos: The Sixth to the Eighth Centuries