Bethsaida (literally, “House of the Fisherman”) has always held a special place in the imagination of Biblical scholars. In the New Testament, it is mentioned as a Galilean seaside village associated with several of Jesus’ miracles, including walking on water and feeding the multitudes. It was also the birthplace of the Apostles Peter, Andrew and Philip. Surprisingly, however, the precise location of Bethsaida remained a mystery until archaeologist Rami Arav recognized the significance of the site in 1987 while exploring Roman ruins. Since then, excavations at the 21-acre site, located just over a mile from the northern shore of the Galilee, have revealed much more than Arav ever anticipated.

Most surprisingly the excavators found beneath the Hellenistic-Roman village of Bethsaida a much older Iron Age site. This city, which excavators believe is the ancient capital of the kingdom of Geshur, was fortified with a massive city wall and a monumental gateway, one of the largest and best-preserved Iron Age gates in the region. At the entrance to the gate area, archaeologists found the remains of a large stele engraved with a bull-like creature, probably the city’s protective deity. One has to wonder if King David entered through this gate, passing by its horned god, when coming to accept his Geshurite wife Ma’achah.

Who knows what surprises Bethsaida may still be waiting to reveal? In recent seasons, Professor Arav and his team have focused extensively on the Iron Age gate complex, including the plaza inside the gate, and have also continued to expose the Hellenistic-Roman town of Jesus’ time. In 2005, they found an undisturbed wine cellar and, in 2006, two bronze bowls used in Roman cultic rituals. This season Arav plans to continue investigating the successive plazas inside the Iron Age gate and further expose the Hellenistic-Roman residential quarter.

Volunteers are housed at Ginosar Inn at the nearby kibbutz, and prices vary according to your choice of accommodations. You can bunk in a dorm, share a room or pay more for a single. The hotel has a private beach on the shores of the Galilee.

Rami Arav has directed the excavations at Bethsaida for the last 20 years and is director of the Consortium of the Bethsaida Excavations Project led by the University of Nebraska at Omaha. He is a professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha in the departments of Philosophy and Religion and History. He also leads the John and Carol Merrill expedition to the Cave of Letters, where Nabatean manuscripts dating to the second century A.D. and earlier were discovered.

Dr. Arav’s most recent publications are Bethsaida, a City by the Northern Shores of the Sea of Galilee, Volumes 1, 2 and 3 co-edited with Dr. Richard Freund (Harry Truman Univ. Press, 2004).