Page 13 - A Walk to Caesarea / Joseph Patrich

The book’s title derives from the title of a famous poem by H. annah Szenes, a
member of Sdot Yam, a kibbutz that was founded among the dunes in 1940 at
the southern edge of the antiquities site. Its words “The sand and the sea / The
murmuring of the water / The radiance of the sky” became a concrete reality for us
during the lengthy excavations along the shore, facing the sea and its waves. An
echo of the excitement that infused H. annah Szenes’ immigration to the kibbutz’s
permanent location, near the antiquities of Caesarea, is discerned in another of her
poems, less familiar – “Ascension to Caesarea,” which is also included in the book
(page 71).

Archaeological work has many partners – among them members of the professional
staff and the workers who excavate – and to them this book is dedicated. Among
the archaeological staff who helped me in the various excavated areas for shorter
or longer periods, were Dror Ben-Yosef, Ziv Bar-Or, H. edva Van-Dam, Shalom
Yankelevich, Alon Moscu, Sheri Pinkas, Shalom Rotgeizer, and David Reshef (area
supervisors); Anna Iamim, Ilya and Nadia Levitt, Ofra Lazar, and Yevgeny Preisman
(surveyors and draftsmen); Yonathan Gottlieb, Gabi Laron, and Zarza Friedman
(photographers); Yuri Duchovny, Boris H. aimov, Nadia Levitt, Tanya Kopian
(artists); Michal Oren-Pascal and Yael Arnon (registrars); Gabi Gilboa and Rachel
Pollack (restorers); Moshe Tzaddik (administrator). Workers at the excavations in
various seasons – who numbered from 25 to 70 – were almost all immigrants from
the FSU and Ethiopia, and to all of them I extend my gratitude.

The illustrative material interspersed in the book – photographs, maps, plans,
views, and reconstructions – is plentiful, as noted. The directors of expeditions
that paralleled mine and whose names were given above have very generously
granted me permission to publish photos and illustrations from their excavations,
even some that have not yet been published in full. Many private individuals and
institutions, whose names are specified in the list of sources of illustrations, gave me
permission to include in the book photos and illustrations from their collections,
their findings, and the results of their research. I wish to thank all of them. I also
express my gratitude to Mrs. Rina Engart, former director of the Sdot Yam Museum;
Dr. Uzi Dahari, deputy director of the Israel Antiquities Authority; and Dr. Gideon
Avni, director of the Excavations and Surveys Department at that time, who
permitted me to photograph findings from Caesarea in the collections of the
museum in the kibbutz and at the Rockefeller Museum. The reconstructions of
structures that adorn the book were specially rendered, and with great skill, by the
architect Idan Rabinowitz.

Assistance in funding the publication of this book, in its original Hebrew version,
was provided by the Archaeological Institute headed by Prof. Erella Hovers and
the Faculty of Humanities of the Hebrew University led by Prof. Reuven Amitai;
the late Avi Arenson and his wife Sarah; and Dr. David and Jemima Jeselsohn.
Dr. David and Jemima Jeselshon also initiated the publication of the book in an
English translation. This edition received a grant also from Amiran Foundation

XI