Wildfires Around the Lake to Start Season 9: Basilica Unharmed

Wildfires around the Sea of Galilee

Tomorrow we begin Season 9. It is very hot, and we are in the midst of a 100 year drought. We will excavate next week with temperatures in excess of 105 degrees. Should be fun. Friday evening we saw a wildfire across the lake in the vicinity of el Araj. So, Sunya and I drove there to see if it had approached our excavation. It did. Today we returned with some volunteers to examine the site. Much of the surrounding vegetation has been consumed by fire. The container for our equipment is smoldering which indicates the contents have been ruined. Also Area D and the preparations made there for this session were burned. The suprising discovery was that the basilica came through the inferno unscathed. I might be able to explain this because there is not a lot of vegetation around the church, but it is much harder to explain the fact that the fire burned the grass right up to the tarp for the apse. Then inexplicably the fire stopped its progress 18 inches from the tarp, even though the dry grass continued under the tarp. Hopefully, this is all an encouraging sign for the prospects of our excavaton. For 9 seasons we have excavated through a pandemic, two years of war, and now a wildfire. Yet, we persist. There must be something very promising at the other end of all our efforts. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers. I'll post daily about the progress on the dig.

Bethsaida-Julias Excavations' Container

Damage from the wildfire

The basilica unharmed.