S9 (Fall): Day 4 and 5 — Days When There Were an Abundance of Finds...

Day 4: We set out each morning before sunrise to begin in the cool of the day. We dig for 7 hours and at times it can be exhausting work. After a couple days swinging a pick, using a hoe, or pushing a wheelbarrow your muscles are aching in the morning when you get up. Still, something draws you back to the square where possibilities exist that may be uncovered that day. Today was one of those days when there was an abundance of finds. At the beginning of the day we were visited by the CBN News crew who are filming to do a special on the excavation. It is scheduled to be shown in the second week of November. Keep an eye out for it. Here is a summary of the day. Area D continues to produce an abundance of finds, coins, limestone vessels, a chalk table top, an iron knife, a glass needle used for putting on make-up. The Israeli workers have dug down through the Roman level and in places are reaching the Hasmonean period. This was marked by the find of a coin of Alexander Janaeus - a Jewish priestly king who ruled in the early part of the 1st century BCE. In Area F the Russian immigrants are making tremendous headway and have found evidence of the Roman bathhouse of Bethsaida-Julias. In Area G we found Roman coins and a Roman period cooking juglet. At the end of the day, we uncovered flagstones over what looks to be a water channel. Tomorrow should give us a better indication of what these stones tell us about the Roman period settlement.

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Day 5: When I arrived this morning to the excavation site I glanced at the area on the site where in 2017 we dug through the Byzantine floor and discovered the Roman bathhouse. This was a significant turning point in our excavation because we realized we had both a Jewish fishing village and a small city - precisely as Josephus described Bethsaida-Julias. How far we have come in 9 years! Today the Israeli team took down a Roman wall and began excavating in the Hellenistic stratum, likely the beginnings of Bethsaida during the Hasmonean kingdom at the beginning of the 1st century BCE. The Russian team is articulating the Byzantine construction in Area F. On Sunday they will remove the walls and excavate down to the Roman period. In Area G we made great progress with a number of finds - including Roman coins and a beautiful Islamic lustreware piece inscribed in Arabic. All of the finds today remind us of the rich and varied history that played out on these shores. Can't wait until next week when we uncover more of Bethsaida's rich past.