Field O

Synagogue Site Excavations

by Marylinda Govaars, Marie Spiro, and L. Michael White

Book cover: Field O

Extent: 305 pages

Publisher: American Society of Overseas Research

Subjects: Ancient Near East

Series: Archaeological Reports

Series volume number: 13

Language: English

Hardback (Published)

(December 2009)

ISBN: 9780897570770

Price: $20.00

In stock

In the northwest quarter of the site of Caesarea Maritima is Field O, the location known as “the synagogue site and Jewish Quarter.” Comprehensive research has discovered previously unknown records from the 1962 excavations and produced a comparative study of the 1945/46, 1956/62, and 1982/84 excavation photographs.


In the northwest quarter of the site of Caesarea Maritima is Field O, the location known as “the synagogue site and Jewish Quarter.” Although excavated in 1956 and 1962, archaeologists and scholars researching the excavation results have been limited to seeing a brush-choked patch of excavated ruins, viewing a few artifacts in museums, and to the frustrating examination of the confusing, often contradictory published preliminary reports. For whatever reason, there was no final report published and there were no published photographs, site plans, or plans of the structures. This lack of clear understanding threatened to keep the site out of the corpus of synagogue sites forever. Now comprehensive research has discovered previously unknown records from the 1962 excavations and produced a comparative study of the 1945/46, 1956/62, and 1982/84 excavation photographs and the complete findings from the Joint Expedition to Caesarea Maritima survey and excavation seasons. Included for the first time are a site plan of the excavated remains and reconstruction drawings of the excavated structures.

Marylinda Govaars has over ten years of archaeological field experience, both in the United States and overseas. At Caesarea, Govaars worked as assistant surveyor/architect in 1980, and then as head surveyor/architect in 1982 and 1984. Govaars has been consulting with the E. Jerry Vardaman Estate since 2002. Marie Spiro is a specialist in Late Roman and Early Christian art and archaeology, with a particular interest in the study of mosaics. Spiro is Associate Professor Emeritus at the University of Maryland. L. Michael White is an American Biblical scholar. He is Ronald Nelson Smith Chair in Classics and Christian Origins, and director of the Institute for the Study of Antiquity and Christian Origins, at the University of Texas at Austin.

  • By (author) Marylinda Govaars
  • By (author) Marie Spiro
  • By (author) L. Michael White