The Wadi Qelt Synagogue is the name given by some to a building controversially identified by its excavator, archaeologist Ehud Netzer, as a Hasmonean-period synagogue. It is part of the royal winter palace complex built by the Hasmoneans in the warm desert oasis of Jericho, west of the town proper. It dates from between 70 and 50 BCE, and if it did indeed serve as a synagogue, it would be one of the oldest synagogues ever found.Oldest Synagogue Found in Israel , March 29, 1998. Associated PressIsrael's Oldest Synagogue, Archaeology, Volume 51 Number 4, July/August 1998, by Spencer P.M. HarringtonEhud Netzer,"A Synagogue from the Hasmonean Period Recently Exposed in the Western Plain of Jericho", IEJ 49 (1999): 203–21.
