Firim; Firam; Kfar Par'am Complete

Description

Within the ruins of a later Arab village, investigators documented traces of an earlier settlement. Field surveys were carried out in the 1960s by A. Ronen and D. Urman, and again in the 1980s by Z. Yeivin, R. Frankel, and Z. Ilan. The site preserves wall lines and building foundations constructed of finely dressed limestone and basalt. Numerous ancient architectural pieces—some carved in relief—were reused in village walls. Recorded elements include columns, capitals, and other well-finished blocks, among them a basalt lintel fragment measuring 0.3 x 1.0 m with a fish-scale motif. Additional lintel fragments decorated with rosettes were noted, as well as a bilingual inscription in Hebrew and Greek letters. Taken together, these remains indicate the presence of a public building, most plausibly a synagogue. Industrial and funerary features were also observed. An olive press was identified at the southwestern end of the site, alongside wine presses. Two sheikh tombs are present, and a ruined flour mill with nearby millstones was recorded; millstones were installed in one of the houses of the village. On the slope of the eastern spur, an ancient quarry and rock-cut caves with loculi were identified. The most prominent burial cave is attributed to the family of Honi Ha-Ma’agel, a Jewish scholar of the first century BCE, associated with the Tannaitic age. Further reading: https://synagogues.kinneret.ac.il/synagogues/firam/ https://survey.antiquities.org.il/index_Eng.html#/MapSurvey/2/site/511