Treasure in the Trash

Most people, when they first see this hauntingly beautiful mosaic discovered at Tel Dor, think it shows a woman, as did BAR editor Hershel Shanks when he visited the site in the summer of 2008. He compared it favorably with the Sepphoris mosaic that has been dubbed the “Mona Lisa of the Galilee,” suggesting it might be called the “Mona Lisa of Dor.” When the mosaic’s excavators and publishers¹ explained that it was in fact depicting a theater mask of a young male, suspended from a floral garland, BAR contributing editor Suzanne Singer suggested a better sobriquet—the Adonis of Dor.