The Duke University Galilee (DUG) Database contains previously unpublished, primary archaeological documents from excavations of synagogues located in the ancient villages of Gush Halav, Nabratein, Khirbet Shema, and Meiron. Together, these four sites in Upper Galilee constitute the Meiron Excavation Project and excavations were carried out between 1970 and 1981 by teams of archaeologists and students led by Professor Eric Meyers of Duke University and colleagues. All four sites are fully published, and for clarity, the final report volumes should be consulted prior to and in conjunction with this database of field notes taken on-site during the excavations.
The location of these four villages in the eastern half of the Upper Galilee places them within a single cultural zone. Meiron was by far the largest, with the smaller Khirbet Shema and Gush Halav close enough to stand in its orbit. Khirbet Shema was one kilometer from Meiron, while Gush Halav was approximately six kilometers away. The distance to the village of Nabratein was further, nearly 10 kilometers.
These Jewish villages were rural, and lacked the wealth of Lower Galilee represented by Tiberias and Sepphoris, and without the heavy Hellenization those areas acquired. None of the four synagogues displayed mosaics or Greek inscriptions. Figural sculpture appears only at Nabratein and Gush Halav, and that was limited. The villages traded with Tyre, towards the northwest, with Tyrian coinage the most common form of currency, but the excavations also reveal numerous Jewish goods that would have come from Lower Galilee or the Golan. Despite these similarities, their periods of occupations varied significantly.
Archaeology is a science of destruction. Once a site is excavated, it exists in an organized fashion only in the careful records created by the archaeologists. Excavators aim to present their interpretation of the site in the final report, usually a large volume—or many large volumes—containing the important information about the site. The final report then becomes the basis for later research about the site. Despite this, the final report does not contain all the information about a site; it is an interpretation based upon the dig’s raw data as contained in the field notes of each excavation season. Complete information about an excavated site therefore includes such primary archaeological data. Hence this database.
The DUG database focuses on providing access to the fieldnotes, drawings and other written records made during the excavation. It contains many of the photographs taken by field excavators, but all of the photographs taken during the excavation are not included.
The four sites’ physical documents are archived in the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Duke University. Information from the DUG database may be used with proper acknowledgement. Copyright is held by Eric and Carol Meyers and the Rubenstein should be contacted for publication permission and any use beyond “fair use.” While we have made every attempt to include the most important primary documents in this digital collection, researchers who want to ensure they have consulted all of the documents should visit the physical archives at Duke University. In addition to physical copies of the documents found in this digital database, and any documents we may have unintentionally missed, the Duke archives include the following types of documents not included in the digital database: post-excavation analyses, additional photographs, additional drawings, coins, articles about the excavations, personal communication, documents prepared for publication, and more.
The database project was led by Professor Chad Spigel (Trinity University) and Professor Paul V. M. Flesher (University of Wyoming). It was programmed by Mark Roller of the University Libraries of the University of Wyoming and is housed on UW’s Information Technology servers. Our thanks go to the many students who helped with this project.
How to use this Database
The DUG Database contains the field notes from four separate excavations: Gush Halav, Khirbet Shema, Meiron, and Nabratein. The data from each excavation is accessed separately, following the buttons on the top of the main pages. The splash page for each site contains general information about it and links to a bibliography. It also contains a search engine that allows you to search for different types of documents, including daily field notes, locus sheets, weekly reports, and final reports. Searches will result in a list of documents and clicking on an item in the results list will display the PDF of that document. For a more detailed explanation of the search feature, click on the question mark button at the bottom of the search box.