A mosaic floor was discovered in Yavne-Yam, from the 6th century AD

The discovery was made as part of excavations on behalf of the Institute of Archeology of Tel Aviv University

A mosaic floor from the 6th century AD was discovered this week, during Yavne-Yam excavations conducted on behalf of the Sonia and Marko Nadler Institute of Archeology of Tel Aviv University and under the direction of Professor Moshe Fisher and Mr. Itamar Taksel from the Department of Archeology and Ancient Near Eastern Civilizations named after Jacob. Alkov, as part of excavations at the site that have been taking place since 1992. Among the many findings discovered so far, there were also the remains of the estate of the Byzantine empress Eudokia who placed it at the disposal of the Georgian bishop Petros the Iberian at the end of the fifth century AD.
In July 2007, the seventh season of archaeological excavations began in the Yavne Yam National Park, located on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, approximately 15 km south of Jaffa and north of Ashdod, approximately 1.5 km south of Kibbutz Palmahim. 60 m from the complex described above in order to check the settlement fabric and closely examine the possibility of a connection with the activity of the Iberi Petors in the place. The excavation yielded spectacular results mainly in two areas, the economic area and the residential setting. In the eastern part of the examined area, remnants of warehouses were uncovered, including pits/dolias hidden in the floors and large storage rooms, including many tools that were destroyed in late antiquity.
On the western side of the area excavated this year, the remains of a villa from the Byzantine period were discovered, with a reception or dining hall decorated with a mosaic floor. The size of the hall is about 7 x 5 m and next to it were entrance rooms and an inner courtyard with a strong plaster floor on which and in which innocent vessels were discovered in situ. The mosaic floor was only partially preserved, but this already indicates both the high quality and the absence of figurative models. At the edges of the overflow there were several frame strips decorated with the braided rope pattern, while the central surface had a spacious medallion divided into several segments by strips of the meander pattern (angular broken line) consisting of red and yellow strips. In the surfaces created by this division there were models of fruit trees and fruit baskets. The four corners formed between the central medallion and the square frame were probably decorated with a vessel for storing wine (amphora) from which vines and clusters of grapes grow. This model was preserved intact in only one corner, while in another corner only its triangular base was preserved. The ephemera that has been preserved is reminiscent of the delicate Roman amphorae, its handles are in the form of volutes (curling lines) and the body is decorated with carving all the way up. The patterns in the mosaic and its design make it possible to date it to the sixth century AD, a date that is fully supported by the ceramics and coins found in the same assemblage.

During the excavations, since 1992, the remains of a settlement from the end of the Iron Age (seventh century BC), the Persian period (sixth-fourth centuries BC), the Hellenistic period, and especially the remains of the destruction caused by the Hasmonean conquest of the settlement (end of the second century BC) AD), the Byzantine period (fifth to seventh centuries AD) and the early Islamic period (eighth to eleventh AD).
In all these periods it is a prosperous settlement that was centered around its port, which was its main source of livelihood and thus being exposed to the Mediterranean world. The many finds throughout all these periods that point to cultural and commercial ties with Egypt, Lebanon, Cyprus, Asia Minor and the Greek islands.

Yavne-Yam served as a port for settlements in the interior of the country, almost non-stop, starting from the Middle Bronze Age (middle of the second millennium BC) until the Middle Ages. Its name was associated with a birch, as noted in literary sources from antiquity, such as the books of the Maccabees, the writings of Pliny the Elder, Josephus, the geographer Ptolemy of Alexandria, ecclesiastical literature and Muslim sources. Of these sources, the essay about the life of Petros Iberi, a bishop of Georgian descent who spent the end of his life in Yavne-Yam around the nineties of the fifth century AD, should be mentioned in particular. This essay allows an extraordinary glimpse into the character of the settlement, its ethnic and religious composition and its importance. The current excavation season does add the archaeological aspect to the situation described there.

Volunteers from Israel and abroad are participating in the excavation, including a delegation from the Academy of the Republic of Georgia. The excavation is a framework for a limited number of students of the "Archaeologist Excavating" course of the Department of Archeology and an educational excavation for two female students from this department.
Prof. Fisher points out that the Yavne-Yam archaeological site is within the scope of a declared national park, but since it is not protected by any control system. "I predict that in a few years there will be no trace of the ancient remains on the site. The Yavne-Yam excavation project is trying to save some of the antiquities, but also to warn about the danger of preserving this site," says Prof. Fisher.