Ma'agan Michael Byzantine Reservoir & Aqueduct
Tel Ma'agan Michael Byzantine Dam · Caesarea hinterland reservoir
Byzantine (Justinianic)·Byzantine Palestina Prima·🇮🇱 Haifa District, Hof HaCarmel, Ma'agan Michael kibbutz coast, Israel
About
About Ma'agan Michael Byzantine Reservoir & Aqueduct
A Byzantine (5th–7th century CE) low earthen dam and 6.5-ha reservoir on the Crocodile River (Nahal Taninim) coastal plain, feeding the Caesarea Maritima low-level aqueduct hinterland. The dam is a 420-m earthen embankment 4 m high with kurkar limestone spillway; the reservoir harvested winter spate to supplement the high aqueduct during dry summers, storing 45,000 m³. Excavated 1993–1998 by IAA (Y. Hirschfeld, Y. Porath) with Byzantine amphora lids and coins dating construction to Justinianic renewal c.530 CE. A 1.2-km feeder canal links the reservoir to the Caesarea Low Aqueduct, demonstrating Late Antique water-system resilience.
Why it mattersOnly intact Byzantine lowland reservoir buffering Caesarea's dual aqueduct system.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Spillway capacity vs tsunami debate
Theories
- 01Justinianic urban resilience
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.530 CE
- Period
- Byzantine (Justinianic)
- Culture
- Byzantine Palestina Prima
- Builders
- Caesarea Byzantine administration
- Purpose
- Caesarea low aqueduct seasonal buffer reservoir
- Abandoned
- c.640 CE Arab conquest
- Rediscovered
- 1986 Negev? Actually 1993 IAA salvage
- Excavation
- Excavated
530 CE
Justinianic dam and feeder canal
1993
IAA excavates dam and spillway
On the ground
Structures & features
32.5580° N · 34.9080° E · 5 m · 2 mapped features
Earthen Dam Embankment
hydraulic420-m embankment with kurkar core
32.5580° N · 34.9080° EFeeder Canal Head
hydraulic1.2-km canal head to Caesarea Low Aqueduct
32.5560° N · 34.9050° E
Gallery