Harvard, Cornell Find Holy Ruins

Another Harvard-Cornell team made the news this week when an expedition of Harvard and Cornell archaeologists announced the discovery of an altar to the goddess Artemis in Sardis, Turkey, the ancient capital of King Croesus.

George M. Hanfmann, director of the expedition and professor of Fine Arts, said the altar was the most important new finding of the summer.

Built more than 2000 years ago during the reign of King Croesus, this altar to Artemis is the oldest religious structure in the Lydian capital.

The joint archaeological expedition, in its 13th consecutive summer of excavation, was also engaged in restoring the ruins of the biggest known Jewish synagogue of antiquity, discovered in 1962.

During the restoration of the synagogue, Harvard and Cornell archaeolo-gists discovered this year a church robbery committed 1300 years ago.

In a strong room built into the synagogue's entrance colonnade, they found a bronze box ripped from its mooring with more than 400 tiny Roman coins scattered about the area.

Several members of the expedition theorized that the bronze "poor box" was cast away by a thief, angered by such a small haul.

Hanfmann conferred with other archaeologists in Cambridge last week to plan the final publication on the results of the synagogue's exploration.

He said he looks forward to at least "two seasons of intensive field and restoration work followed by several years of research" before leaving the Lydiarr ruins.