Ancient Galilean Synagogue Discovery
Haaretz (15 August 2016) reported the recent discovery of another first-century synagogue in the Galilee, and the first in a rural setting.
It will be interesting to compare this find—both the structure and its immediate context—with the synagogue from Magdala.
At Magdala the immediate neighborhood had a street with dressed basalt paving and nicely dressed stones in the buildings. All of which suggests a level of wealth that would be unusual for a first-century Galilean village and is much more advanced than the nearby first-century village at Capernaum or even the fourth-century village at Chorazin.
No doubt there is scope for some comparative studies by archaeologists and historians.
Meanwhile, one never knows what the next turn of the shovel will uncover, so our explanations and theories remain open to modification and refinement.