Sussita

July 3, 2016

The 2016 Season begins

by • 2016 • Tags: ,

The Concordia Team has completed its first day of excavation at Hippos Sussita. For each day of the season, we are preparing 3D models and posting them here to document our progress. Today the team opened work in two areas:

  • A building north of the church and related to it (Square DP44)
  • The east storage room of the House of Tyche completing work begun last year (Square DR40)

The work in DP44 has begun to expose more of W583. Below is the model:

DP44 on 3 July 2016
by Dr. Mark Schuler
on Sketchfab

The work in DR40 seems to be revealing the west face of W1298. Here is its model:

DR40 on 3 July 2016
by Dr. Mark Schuler
on Sketchfab

Progress is noted, but we have much work to do before we can draw any conclusions.

 

August 11, 2014

Maintenance and More

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by • 2014 • Tags: , ,

Although Concordia did not send a team for the 2014 season, Dr. Mark Schuler and area supervisor Darryl Schmidt did spend the first week of July at Sussita doing maintenance on the Northeast Insula.

Dr. Schuler and Darryl Schmidt
Making notes on the plaza cistern.

“Maintenance” means pulling weeds, removing small areas of tumble, and recovering mosaic floor exposed over the winter. In addition, Schuler and Schmidt completed work from the previous season. They exposed the rest of a small and late room built over the remains of the southeast corner of the House of Tyche. Next to the bench in the corner, they recovered a nearly intact Roman juglet, the form of which resembled a small amphora, only with one handle.

IMG_0740
A mini amphora?

Two additional projects completed the week. A small probe was dug to bedrock in the sleeping chamber east of the apse of the Northeast Church. There Darryl recovered a fine Hellenistic drinking bowl.

Hellenistic drinking bowl
Hellenistic drinking bowl

We also documented the cistern in the paved plaza between the Alpha and Beta buildings using a laser. The cistern is bell shaped and about 4.5 m deep.

See the report for 2014 for full detail.

July 9, 2012

Fresco Fragment from the House of Tyche

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by • 2012 • Tags: , , ,

While uncovering the southern section of the east room of the House of Tyche, excavators retrieved fragments of an ancient fresco decorating the room. The fragments were no longer attached to the walls of the room, but a reconstruction of a portion of the fresco is possible.

Fresco fragments from the east room of the House of Tyche.

Dr. Stephen Chambers was the primary excavator involved.

Dr. Chambers holding a fragment of the fresco.

We are currently looking for similar Byzantine frescoes from other sites.

June 23, 2012

Dig prep team has arrived

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by • 2012 • Tags: , , ,

After an overnight delay due to the cancellation of their Air Canada flight, the dig prep team (Laura, Erin, Jackie, and Dr. Schuler) have arrived at Kibbutz Ein Gev. They will attend the Tel Hai conference at the start of the week and then turn their energies to preparing the site and the lab for this year’s excavation.

July 5, 2011

Completing the set

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by • 2011 • Tags: , , , ,

In 2009, the Concordia Team discovered an inscription honoring Tarius Titianus, a governor of Syria Palestinae. On the third day of the 2011 season, a sharp-eyed volunteer, Concordia student Meghan O’Neill, spotted a stone with Greek writing on it in the area she was excavating. The find turned out to be another portion of the same inscription, providing the motive for so honoring Tarius Titianus … he was considered the “patron and builder of the fatherland.” Meghan’s discovery brings together the original inscription, an inscribed block found by the Haifa team in 2008, and this new piece to place Hippos well within the practice of Roman government and action in the Greek east which was honored by local citizens with such inscriptions.

Congratulations, Meghan!

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