Huqoq or Hukkok () 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 (). 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 JewishâÂÂRoman 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.
The name Huqoq is mentioned in the Bible (Book of Joshua, Books of Chronicles) as a Jewish city that kept on existing during the Roman period, it was also known then as Hucuca. During the Ottoman period there was an Arab village named Yaquq. built on the ancient ruins.
Archaeological investigations at the site of the former village of Yaquq, located near the Sea of Galilee, 12.5 km north of Tiberias, uphill from Capernaum and Magdala, suggest that the site was inhabited in the Iron Age, Persian, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Abbasid, Fatimid, Mamluk and Ottoman periods. The Arab village of Yakuk was abandoned during the 1948 war and was bulldozed in 1968.
The village site was inhabited in the Early and Middle Bronze Age.
Hukkok (Hebrew ÃÂçç) is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible in . The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia considers the identification of Hukkok with Yakuk as plausible, although it might be too far from Aznoth-tabor (possibly Khirbet el-Jebeil, c. 3 miles north of Mount Tabor) to fit the description.
The Roman-period village was large and prosperous due to the presence of a constant spring. It is apparent from both the synagogue and the absence of pig bones that the Roman period village was Jewish.
"The most extensive hiding complex discovered to date in the Galilee" has been announced in March 2024. There are some eight hiding cavities with more ramifications being discovered, connected by tunnels set at straight angles to slow down Roman soldiers hunting for Jewish rebels. The hiding complex dates back to the First Jewish-Roman War (66-70 CE) and the Bar Kochba Revolt (132-136 CE), and could only serve for short-term concealment from Roman patrols due to the small size of the chambers.
Most of the numerous finds attest to the use of the underground system during the First Revolt, and while there is no proof yet for the Bar Kochba Revolt actually spreading out to Galilee, a small number of artifacts found in this complex show that it was "involved in the preparations" for the uprising. The refuge system was revealed through community excavations with the participation of local residents, students enrolled in archaeology and Land of Israel studies, volunteers from a cavers club, and soldiers from the IDF's Samur Unit for underground operations.
The village is attested in Late Roman and Byzantine period rabbinic sources. Archaeological findings as well as the mention of Huqoq in both the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmud prove that the Jewish village survived the Bar Kochba Revolt.
The prosperity of the ancient village contrasts with the simplicity of the Ottoman-era settlement and can be seen by archaeologists in animal bones which were cut by professional butchers in the ancient Jewish village, and by farmers in the Muslim period.
Among the structures uncovered during the 2012 dig were the remains of an elaborate synagogue, dated to the 5th century. Findings include limestone carvings and an elaborate floor mosaic. The synagogue's walls and columns were painted in bright colors: plaster fragments show traces of pink, red, orange and white pigments. The artistry of the mosaic, which is composed of tiny tiles, together with the large stones used for the walls, attests to the prosperity of the village.
The mosaic includes of the Biblical hero Samson. The figure of Samson appears twice: carrying the gates of Gaza, and tying burning torches to the tails of foxes. Samson and the foxes is an episode from the Book of Judges (). During a battle with the Philistines, Samson catches 300 wild foxes, ties burning torches to their tails and sets them loose to set fire to Philistine grain fields.<nowiki>