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The Jerusalem Talmud, when making note of the former wealth of the village, writes:
There were three cities whose tax ledgers were carried by wagon unto Jerusalem: Cabul, Asochis, and Migdal of the dyers,Hebrew: מגדל צבעייא = Migdal Ṣeboʻaya. and all three of them were destroyed. Cabul because of a schism, Asochis because of Witchcraft, and Migdal of the dyers because of lechery.The Jerusalem Talmud (Ta'anit 4:5 24b)
Seven molds used to make oil lamps, the most ever found in a village in Israel, were recovered from the site. According to Aviam, this is strong evidence that "the production of oil lamps was very important" to Shikhin.
Shikhin was a major pottery production centre in Roman Galilee, specialized in jars, flasks and , although it seems that no cooking ware was produced there, unlike in Kefar Hanania, the leading regional production centre during the entire Roman period.Leibner (2009), p. 8 At the end of that period and the transition to the Early Byzantine period, material culture changed substantially and, in the mid-fourth century, wares from both centres suffer a pronounced decline.Leibner (2009), p. 49 In Tannaim and Amoraim and literature, written in the first five centuries CE, Kefar Hananya and Kefar Shikhin still are used as archetypal places where pottery was made with "black clay" (Bava Metzia 6, 3).Leibner (2009), p. 132
In August 2013, the team announced that it had uncovered evidence of an ancient synagogue and houses. They also found evidence of pottery production in the area.
Three sarcophagi, largely unadorned except for some non-figurative stone relief, have been uncovered on neighbouring Jebel Qat, near one of a number tombs discovered around the village.
History of archaeological research
An archaeological survey of an area less than 1.5 km north of Sepphoris, that led to the identification of Shikhin, took place in 1988, and a second one was undertaken in 2011. In 2012, excavation got underway led by James Riley Strange of Samford University, Mordechai Aviam of Kinneret College and David Fiensy of Kentucky Christian University.
Archaeological findings
The village expanded over three low hilltops, with a general north-south orientation and over a distance of little over one kilometre. The hill of Jebel Qat lays outside and to the east of the village, and there archaeologists found a cave used as hideaway, signs of quarrying, and of olive and/or wine industry.
See also
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