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TEL AVIV, ISRAEL—Salvage excavations by the Israel Antiquities Authority ahead of a construction project in the village of Moshav Aluma have uncovered the ruins of a 1,500-year-old basilica with mosaic floors. The large church was situated near a main road that connected Ashkelon on the Mediterranean coast and Jerusalem, so it probably served as a center of Christian worship—one of the mosaics features a Christogram, an image made up of symbols that is surrounded by birds. Another section of mosaic contains the names ‘Mary’ and ‘Jesus’ as part of a dedicatory inscription written in Greek. The excavation also uncovered Byzantine glass vessels and a pottery workshop; early Islamic walls; and Ottoman garbage pits.
