Horvat Sumaqa
Name
was perhaps the first to transcribe the site's name in writing in 1875 based on what he was told by a local Arab guide, relaying that its ancient name was unknown, unless a clue to it lay in the local name, Kharbet Semmakha. Khirbet means "ruin", while the name Sumaqa or Sumaq and their derivatives refer in both Aramaic and Arabic to the tanner's sumach bush. This bush has been used for centuries for spices, medicine, and tanning. It has been suggested that the site's name is linked to industrial activity that flourished there in antiquity, where workshops may have produced tanning materials from the plant.Although the settlement itself is not mentioned in ancient textual sources, several rabbinic sages from the 3rd and 4th centuries CE, whose names appear in rabbinic literature and seem to derive from Sumaq, may have originated from this location. These include Ḥilfi ben Samqai, Rabbi Tufa Semuqa, and Rabbi Abba Semuqa.
Location and geography
Horvat Sumaqa is located in the Upper Mount Carmel area of northern Israel inside a closed military zone. It lies about 2.5 kilometers south of Daliyat al-Karmel and roughly 5 kilometers west of the summit of Mount Carmel. The settlement was built on a low rocky hill, about 350 m above sea level. To the north, the hills rise to around 450 m, while to the south and west the terrain drops to 200–300 m. The hill is composed of hard chalk, with the surrounding slopes formed of softer chalk. The hard chalk was used by the ancient town's inhabitants for constructing their homes. Immediately northwest of the site runs the deep, rugged riverbed of Nahal Haruvim, which served as a natural boundary for the settlement. To the south lies a fertile valley.The village had no perennial water source. Instead, its inhabitants relied on rainwater collected in rock-hewn underground cisterns. An old cistern west of the site is still functioning today.
History
Sumaqa contains the remains of a Jewish town from the Roman and Byzantine periods, corresponding to the Rabbinic period in Jewish history. The settlement appears to have been founded toward the end of the Early Roman period, as suggested by remains beneath the synagogue that predate its construction, including fragments of a Herodian lamp and terra sigillata. It reached its main phase of growth and prosperity in the 3rd–4th centuries CE. The ruins extend over roughly 35 dunams, suggesting that Sumaqa was a town of medium size.In the 5th century the settlement declined sharply and appears to have been briefly abandoned, possibly in connection with Byzantine persecution of Jews, or with the Byzantine suppression of the Samaritan revolts, during which imperial reprisals also destroyed Jewish communities, including the nearby Jewish settlement of Husifah. Repairs and multiple building phases in the synagogue and houses point to a later phase of renewal, but coin finds indicate a break in occupation from the early 5th to the mid-6th century.
The site was resettled, then abandoned again around the mid-7th century, with some evidence that a small Christian population may have lived there at one stage. There are traces of seasonal or temporary habitation during the period of Crusader rule, with the site perhaps used as a hunting encampment, as evidenced in the bone artifacts unearthed belonging to wild boars. During the Mamluk period, buildings including the once synagogue were restructured, serving as a residence, with other structures reused or built over. Medieval sources describe the Carmel area as passing from Crusader to Mamluk control, while in the Ottoman period the site appears to have stood empty.
Research history
Scientific research on Horvat Sumaqa began in the 19th century, with visits by explorers such as Victor Guérin and the team of the PEF Survey of Western Palestine led by C. R. Conder and H. H. Kitchener. Conder and Kitchener described the site as "a place of importance on a flat hill-top on Carmel, with a deep valley behind," adding that "there seems good reason to suppose that a synagogue stood here." In documenting the architectural fragments around the building, they noted similarities to the synagogues at Bar'am and Meiron. Other early visitors who left descriptions of the site include Lawrence Oliphant and Graf von Mülinen. In 1905, Heinrich Kohl and Carl Watzinger carried out excavations in the synagogue, published in 1916. Over the following years, villagers from the nearby Umm az-Zinat took stones from the site, leading to the loss of many of its original structures. The area was later surveyed by the northern team of the Archaeological Survey of Israel, headed by Ya'aqov Olami.The site has suffered damage in the 20th century. Targets were placed on the ancient synagogue for target practice by the Israel Defense Forces during training sessions, which resulted in damage to parts of the structure; several nearby burial chambers were also damaged. Archaeological work began in earnest in 1983, in response to calls from Hava Lahav of the field school of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel to the archaeology department of Bar-Ilan University to help protect the remains of the ancient synagogue.
Eleven seasons of large-scale excavations were conducted at Horvat Sumaqa between 1983 and 1995, sponsored by the Department of Land of Israel Studies at Bar-Ilan University and the Carmel Field School. The excavations were directed by Shimon Dar, together with Ariel Siegelmann and Yohanan Mintzker, and focused mainly on the synagogue, while also uncovering domestic buildings, workshops, and the central reservoir. Excavation work was often temporarily suspended often due to evacuation orders from the Israeli army to facilitate their trainings in the firing range, during which time the team would conduct surveys of other nearby already excavated archaeological sites with the permission of the Israeli Antiquities Authority.
Synagogue
The synagogue was built on the southern slope of the hill, on a terrace cut into the slope, with the façade facing east.Phase I (Large synagogue, 3rd century CE)
The synagogue's first phase is dated to the 3rd century CE in the Late Roman period, based on coinage, pottery, and its characteristic architectural style. It remained in use until it was apparently destroyed deliberately in the 4th or early 5th century CE, possibly in the context of Byzantine persecution of Jews or as a result of the wider impact of the Samaritan revolts reaching the Carmel region.The building likely had the plan of a basilica, estimated to measure 14.80 x 23.80 m including the narthex. The excavators, Dar and Mintzker, write that the "the walls were constructed of large ashlar stones, shaped by combed-chisel dressing and assembled with fine joints without mortar." To achieve a level floor, builders "cut into the bedrock on the building's northern side and built the up foundations on the southern side."
The eastern façade show evidence of three doors. Fragments, including a frieze suggesting the angle of the gable, several cornices, and a conch decoration for a window lintel, help reconstruct the façade's original look. Fragments of a three-dimensional eagle statue were found and may have belonged to an art piece that once stood above the main doorway. A massive lintel fragment decorated with a lion and a goblet was also uncovered outside the façade. In the 19th century this lintel was still complete, showing two lions facing a goblet between them, with a small cup above one of the lions, as recorded by the PEF survey team.
A stone fragment bearing part of a recessed frame and the Hebrew letter mem or lamed was also discovered, reused in a step dating to the medieval period. Two sets of stylistically identical Ionic columns were present: larger ones were seemingly used for the main room and smaller ones for the narthex. A hard lime plastered floor was found, constructed in three layers: stone soling, rammed lime with crushed stones, and a hard lime plaster finish.
Phase II (Smaller rebuilt synagogue, 5th–7th centuries CE)
The structure underwent major changes in the late Byzantine period. Internal walls narrowed the original hall to approximately 10 x 15 m. Benches were added along the plastered walls. Five grooved pillars were found upright within the synagogue; they had different diameters and heights and were likely brought from the nearby industrial workshops to repair the building, as they were not part of the original construction.A small menorah scratched on the façade wall suggests the building may have continued to function as a Jewish place of worship during this phase. A small hoard of six Byzantine coins was discovered, the latest dating to 618/619 CE, during the reign of Heraclius, the last Byzantine emperor to rule the Levant before the Muslim conquest.