TIBERIAS, ISRAEL—The Associated Press reports that building foundations unearthed in northern Israel may have been an early mosque constructed shortly after the city of Tiberias came under Muslim rule, and not a Byzantine marketplace later converted to a mosque, as had been previously thought. At the base of the building foundations, researchers led by archaeologist Katia Cytryn-Silverman of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem found mostly Roman and Byzantine coins and pottery dating to the mid-seventh century A.D. Based on these findings, they estimate that the structure was erected sometime between A.D. 660 and the 680s. Cytryn-Silverman explained that the building’s floor plan, dimensions, and prayer niche also closely resemble those of other early mosques built in Medina, Damascus, and Jerusalem. This structure, she added, was “more humble” than a larger mosque that replaced it half a century later. “At least until the monumental mosque was erected in the eighth century, the church continued being the main building in Tiberias,” Cytryn-Silverman said. To read about a secret escape passage discovered in Tiberias that was connected to a Crusader citadel, go to "World Roundup: Israel."
