Half of a Doric capital used to decorate a public building. As we moved into the final week of excavations, the pace picked up. You don’t want to run out time and leave that unearthed stratum or artifact for next year. Right on time, the temperatures soared. But we marshalled on through the heat and fatigue determined to make the most of our efforts. Below I will give what I think are some of the more important advances that have been made this summer in our aim to unde

Season 10 (2026) Week Three Summary - Let’s be honest, digging four weeks in the summer in Israel is a challenge. You get into the rhythm of rising a 3:50AM to be on site at 5:00AM. Indeed, you prefer that hour, because it is the coolest hour in the day that you are going to see. Yet, after three weeks of hard labor, the heat and exertion begin to wear on you, even if you are only 25 years old (which is an age I left long ago). Still, you carry on as a team and the camaraderi

The team from Session 1. We made good, steady progress in our second week. Two more to go. My personal engagement shifted just a bit. On Sunday, Adam, Laney and I finished our work in Area H alongside the Schneider house. It was determined that the walls of the 19th house were not built on monumental Roman walls, which is what we were checking. We did uncover smaller Roman walls in our half-square, but they were not related to the foundations of the house, and it was felt

R. Steven Notley and David Bivin, ז״ל There are a number of folks posting daily from the excavation, and I did not want to duplicate their efforts. If you have a daily interest, I recommend the Facebook pages of Bethsaida-Julias EAEP and Chris McKinny with Lanier Center for Archaeology which are often linked. On my page, unless there is something special during the week, I will post a summary of what I think we have accomplished during the week. As I have written, we rise bef

2-3 century CE city coin found in Area G. Today we began our tenth season of excavation at Khirbet el A'raj: Roman Period Bethsaida-Julias. For the first time since before the pandemic, we will excavate for four consecutive weeks in the summer months (there will be another two week session in October). We are joined this year by Chis McKinny and students from the Lanier Center for Archaeology at Lipscomb University. During these first two weeks our focus is on three areas. Th

Welcome to the Bethsaida-Julias EAEP 2026 excavations. This summer we begin our tenth season in the search for the last, lost city of the Gospels. The week before an excavation is usually a time for preparing the site, clearing away the growth from the winter, bringing the tools to the site, and getting the volunteers in place. However, this year we had a special occasion. Yesterday we were visited by Ambassador Mike Huckabee, his wife and other dignitaries in a ceremony to m