Discovery at Shavei

Oil is not the only treasure that lies beneath the timeless sands of the Middle East. Temples, churches, palaces and whole cities wait for the digging; the finds of the past decade--at Harran and Arzawa in Turkey and Dura Europos in Syria--indicate how much more is to come. This week the government of Israel was opening to tourists the latest major discovery: the remains of one of the earliest Christian churches in the world.

Four years ago, the German Jews in the red-roofed little settlement called Shavei Zion, on the rocky Mediterranean coast between Acre and Lebanon, decided to build a coastal road to link their village with other communities. A bulldozer was at work slicing away the sand dunes when one day its driver noticed that he was grazing what seemed to be scorched pavement with jewel-encrusted slabs. Archaeologist Moshe Prausnitz, British-trained senior inspector of Israel's Department of Antiquities, arrived on the scene, found a loose layer of burned mosaic floor, and under that two layers of superb mosaic that seemed to be virtually undamaged.

Since then, with interruptions caused by war with Egypt and lack of funds. Archaeologist Prausnitz. 34. has uncovered the floor of a large church, part of what used to be a busy port town, probably called Nea Come in the days of Emperor Constantine. Christians broke their journey there on the road from Tyre to Caesarea.

In addition to the black, white and red mosaic, there are wall frescoes, lamps, chancel rails and a whole system of locks. Prausnitz dates the church in the 4th century. One clue: the liberal use of the cross on the floor mosaics, a practice that the church prohibited A.D. 427 on the ground that the feet of worshipers profaned the sacred symbol. A second indication is the floor plan--a long rectangle in the manner of 4th century Roman temples. Definite dating must wait upon other scholars and future excavations.

What had happened to this once great church that may have echoed to Christian prayers when Augustine was Bishop of Hippo? Prausnitz theorizes that it was probably sacked by Persian King Chosroes I in his 6th century invasion of Syria. Then the winds blew, and the sand swept over the bright mosaic.

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