PRELIMINARY GEOARCHAEOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS OF THE MAGDALA ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROJECT; ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES OF THE LAST 50 YEARS IN ISRAEL

In 2009 in the town of Magdala, located on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee in Israel, archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority discovered a first century synagogue (50-100 CE) with unique features such as an engraved stone with a seven branched menorah (candelabrum): the first of its kind to be found in northern Israel from the 1st Century. Further excavations performed by the University of Anáhuac México Sur in association with the Institute of Anthropologic Investigations of the UNAM, revealed a habitational complex including houses, market and a harbor. Of particular interest are three traditional ritual Jewish baths (mikwa’ot). These are the first unearthed mikwa’ot in such close proximity to the Sea of Galilee and, the first that operate with groundwater instead of collected rainwater, from the 1^st century through the 12^th century in the world.

Historical records indicate that Magdala played a significant role during the Jewish revolt from 67-70 CE and that after the battle the town was abandoned, although there is evidence that the town had a small occupation to the south after the revolt until the 2nd Century. One theory suggests that the population abandoned the site due to a landslide from the adjacent Mount Arbel. Archaeologists formulated this theory based on several prehistoric flintstone tools found in the site whose provenance assume are from Mt Arbel. Sedimentological analyses performed in an adjacent archaeological site (Sarti, G., et al. 2013) revealed sudden changes in the stratigraphy that suggest the possibility of tectonic activity in the site such as the earthquakes that occurred in 363 CE and 749 CE (Marco et al., 2003). Further investigations are needed to gain more insight on the geoarchaeological history of the site.