Beersheba's big dig

04/25/2012 15:34 By YOCHEVED MIRIAM RUSSO

The city is not only getting a newly renovated station – it also got a bird’s-eye view of the remains of a bustling Byzantine city as they were excavated by the Antiquities Authority.

The finds were probably the remains of two houses

Photo by: YOCHEVED MIRIAM RUSSO

For several months, Byzantine Beersheba presented itself up close and personal for bus passengers riding into the city.

Reconstruction of the city’s venerable but old and dreary bus station required an archeological dig to see what lay under the facility, and bus passengers who looked out their windows were treated to a bird’s-eye view. Once the excavations began, archeologists were delighted to find that just a foot or two below the surface rested part of the remains of the bustling Byzantine city of Beersheba, home to several thousand people and a popular stopping place for Negev travelers.

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Beersheba's big dig

The city is not only getting a newly renovated station – it also got a bird’s-eye view of the remains of a bustling Byzantine city as they were excavated by the Antiquities Authority.

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