More on the Tel Recheš synagogue

ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY: Do these ancient ruins prove stories in the Bible were true? 2,000-year-old rural synagogue in Galilee may be similar to sites where Jesus taught (RICHARD GRAY, Daily Mail). No, they don't prove any stories are true, but they potentially may give us some important background for some of those stories. Excerpt:

According to the New Testament, Jesus travelled from towns and villages preaching in their synagogues.

But until now no rural synagogues have been found from around the time.

The building, which archaeologists have dated to the First Century AD, appears to have formed part of a Jewish village at a hilltop site known as Tel Recheš, near Mount Tabor in lower Galilee, Israel.

Dr Mordechai Aviam, an archaeologist at Kinneret College on the Sea of Galilee who has been leading the excavations, told MailOnline that he believes the synagogue was built between 20-40AD and was in use until midway through the second century.
He said: 'This is the first 1st century synagogue in rural Galilee of the first century.

'This find, reflects the life of 1st century Galilee, which was almost totally rural.

'The site is 17 km (10 miles) as crow flies east of Nazareth, and 12 km from Nin (Naim), and although we don't have its name in the New Testament, it is in the area in which Jesus acted.

'Therefore it will give scholars of the New Testament another view of the life in the villages in which Jesus was active.

Background here.