Huqoq

Huqoq or Hukkok (Hebrew: חוקוק) was an ancient Jewish village, located 12.5 km north of Tiberias, in the Lower Galilee region of Israel. The site had been settled since ancient times and is mentioned in the Book of Joshua (Joshua 19:34). The Palestinian village of Yaquq later stood at Huqoq's location, and a fort named Hukok was built near the site on 11 July 1945, later followed by a kibbutz.

Archaeological excavations revealed a prosperous Jewish community that inhabited Huqoq during the Roman and Byzantine periods. A spring supported the ancient settlement, whose monumental synagogue contains some of the most elaborate Late Roman-era mosaics ever found in Israel. These include detailed depictions of biblical scenes, as well as rare non-biblical imagery that challenge previous assumptions about Jewish art in Late Antiquity.

Fieldwork has also uncovered extensive underground hiding complexes carved by the local Jewish population during the Jewish–Roman wars, including what is described as the most extensive such system discovered to date in Galilee. These chambers and tunnels suggest that the local population prepared for the Bar Kokhba revolt, though it remains unclear whether they actually participated in it, as modern scholars generally believe the revolt was limited to Judea proper, with perhaps only limited involvement in Galilee. Around a millennium later, a Crusader-era coin hoard was hidden in these ancient hideouts.