The El Araj Excavations Project is an ongoing investigation of Roman-period Bethsaida-Julias on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. It enters its seventh season of excavation of Roman, Byzantine, and Crusader material remains. In recent years, the project has received considerable attention for its discovery of a lost, legendary basilica reportedly built over the house of the Apostles Peter and Andrew in Bethsaida. The discovery in 2022 of a dedicatory inscription in the church confirmed its identification.
In the coming seasons, it will focus more effort to opening squares of the Roman-period settlement that likely represents Herod Phillip’s urbanization of the fishing village of Bethsaida into a small Roman polis that he named Julias.
Sea of Galilee, Northern Israel
July 21 - August 19 & October 19 - November 3, 2023
2 Weeks
Friday, April 21, 2023
Contact for more details
Volunteers will be housed in Beit Haccerem, Migdal, Israel.
Mordechai Aviam: Kinneret Academic College
Steven Notley: Alliance University
Sunya Notley
[email protected]
Phone: +1 (845)-357-2090
To learn how you can get involved, visit their website and check them out on Facebook.