Gamla 2005 Overview

Gamla - Final Report of the Shmarya Gutmann Excavations (1976-1989)
Danny Syon

Gamla is a key site in the archaeology and history of the late Second-Temple Period and especially of the First Jewish War (66-73 CE). Situated on the Golan Heights (map ref. Israel Grid 219.256), in a breathtaking natural setting, it commands a view of the Sea of Galilee.
From the outset of modern research Gamla had been identified at several different sites in and around the Golan, based on the writings of the contemporary historian Flavius Josephus.

The most detailed description of the city is found in War 4.1 in which he describes its geographical and topographical setting. Here he also details the character of its buildings, as a prologue to the dramatic events that took place at Gamla in the fall of 67 C.E. Flavius mentions Gamla at several other places, in context of its earlier history (Antiquities) and of his own actions there (Life).

Shmarya Gutmann, the first scientific explorer of Masada, after participating in the Yigael Yadin excavations at Masada, saw Gamla as the ‘missing link’ in the history of the Great Revolt and devoted much effort to locating it. He led the excavations at Gamla for fourteen seasons (1976–1989) with great love and diligence. The excavations were renewed in 1997–2000 and directed by myself and Zvi Yavor.

The finds on the site show that Gamla was a major settlement during the Early Bronze Age (c. 3200–2000 B.C.E.). The later, Second Temple period settlement obliterated nearly all traces of this settlement. The archaeological evidence points to the establishment of a small settlement here in the second half of the second century BCE, possibly as a Seleucid military fort. During the reign of the Jewish king Alexander Jannaeus of the Hasmonean dynasty (103–76 B.C.E.) the city expanded rapidly, and under King Herod became the major Jewish city in the region and capital of Gaulanitis district.

During the Jewish War Gamla initially favored peace but eventually rebelled, and thus was besieged and taken by Vespasian’s legions in October 67 CE, in the last major military operation of the Romans in Galilee, one that is described in great detail by Josephus.

Gamla was never resettled again, and thus the excavations provide an unparalleled glimpse of Jewish urban life in the first century, as well as the earliest urban synagogue. Gamla provides also an extraordinary opportunity to study a Roman battle site of the first century CE just as it was abandoned. One of the most striking findings at Gamla was the immense number of weapons and military objects recovered. Some 2000 basalt ballista stones and 1600 iron arrowheads have been found to date, probably more than the sum of all other such find from the period anywhere. The pottery, glass and coins, with a firm terminus ante quem, help elucidate standing questions of chronology of the period.

In addition, at Gamla a quarter was excavated which — enigmatically — was inhabited only in the Hasmonean period (first century BCE). The finds from this area cover an even narrower time span, the end of which, coinciding with the reign of Herod, is crucial in that some characteristic forms of material culture appeared precisely then, such as blown glass, knife-pared lamps and stone vessels.

The finds from Gamla also provide a new opportunity to confront the archaeological evidence with the contemporary accounts of Josephus, adding a very substantial volume of material for judging his credibility.