Desert road dig reveals Byzantine-era town

JERUSALEM - A team of Israeli archaeologists have uncovered remains of a sixth-century Jewish village in the Negev desert during construction work on a toll road, local media reported Monday.

Israeli Antiquities Authority (IAA) officials said the findings along the Trans-Israel Highway, north of Beersheba, contradict previously-held assumptions that Byzantine-era Jewish settlement in Samaria focused solely in areas south of Hebron, local daily Ha 'aretz reported Monday.

"The two public structures we've found fit the criteria of synagogues according to certain parameters," said IAA dig chief Nir Shimson-Paran.

"The structures were built with chiseled hewn stones and contain remains of a stage adjacent to the wall, facing Jerusalem, " he said.

"Their characteristics suggest that they served as synagogues, and that they were undoubtedly part of a Jewish town," Paran added.

Also among the findings were two mikvehs (small pools used for ritual purification).

Paran said the town was abandoned at the end of the sixth century as a result of Islamic conquests.

"One hundred years later, a new settlement was created in the same location. The mikvehs were rendered obsolete and the town appears to have not been Jewish," Paran added.