Negev Desert. Photo: Wikipedia/Hagai Agmon-Snir Jerusalem (KNA) During excavations south of the Bedouin town of Rahat in the Negev Desert, Israeli archaeologists have uncovered the remains of a 1,500-year-old church. They found drawings of contemporary ships on parts of the remains of the wall, which could have been made by Christian pilgrims, according to the Israeli Antiquities Authority (Thursday).
According to the report, the researchers found around ten depictions of different ships that had been carved into the stone by different people. According to archaeologist Deborah Cvikel, the level of detail shows the artists’ familiarity with maritime life. The drawings ranged from rowing boats to two-masted ships.
According to the researchers, the drawings are a “greeting from Christian pilgrims who arrived by ship in the harbour of Gaza” and continued their journey to the holy sites in Jerusalem, Bethlehem or the Sinai. The excavation site, which according to researchers is located about a day’s walk from the ancient port of Gaza on the old Roman road to Beersheba, opens “a window into the world of Christian pilgrims who visited the Holy Land 1,500 years ago”, explained the director of the Antiquities Authority, Eli Escusido. It also provides first-hand evidence of the ships they travelled on and the maritime world of the time.
Gaza, which belonged to the Philistine League of Five Cities from the 12th century BC, developed into one of the most important harbours in the eastern Mediterranean at the turn of the millennium. Important trade routes ran through here in Byzantine times. In 1997, during construction work south of Gaza City, the remains of a large monastery complex with three successive churches were found, which were built around the tomb of St Hilarion over a period of more than 400 years. According to the French archaeologist in charge, Rene Elter, the layout and expansion of the site point to massive Christian pilgrimage tourism.
The finds, which were made in the course of development work for an urban expansion project south of Rahat, are to be presented to the public for the first time at a conference on 4 June.