This year is the "silver
anniversary" of the Bethsaida. Wow, 25years! It's
expected that a large number of volunteers/staff will participate and it's
anticipated that many questions that have surfaced in the past years will
be
resolved.
Stratum VII.
Last season was the first time that a stratum was
encountered
dating from the Late Bronze Age II (14th - 12th centuries BCE). This
stratum will be further excavated to ascertain more about the city in this period of time. The region GE[SHU]RU is
attested in antiquity in a letter written by the king of Pehel (today
Tabkat
Fahil
in Jordan, opposite Kibbutz Tirat Zvi ) to the Egyptian king
Akehnaton. The
king of Pehel complained that the Geshurites were being aggressive toward him.
Maybe some light
can be shed about these people.
Stratum VI
This is the foundation of city of Bethsaida and dates from the middle 10th
century BCE. This is the period of Kings David and Solomon & is currently a
heated debate among scholars. While some suggest that there were no kingdoms
formed during this period of time, that there were only chiefdoms, others suggest the
opposite. The reason for these two opinions is because we have very few archaeological remains from this period
& they are conflicting and problematic. However,
due to its great state of preservation, Bethsaida is a hot spot to solve these
problems. It's possible that there will be more unequivocal and persuasive remains
at Bethsaida dating from this period & they will help us to better understand this
problematic period.
Stratum II
This stratum is from the Hellenistic and the Roman periods, which has
contributed interesting discoveries
from the 2010 excavation, such as the rare gold coin of
Antoninus Pius of 138 CE. It might be able to
ascertain more about the house of the person who
owned this treasure.
Further excavations in the residential area at the north of the site (Area C)
will help in the understanding of this Iron Age/Roman/Hellenistic area. Bethsaida has never disappointed & has supplied many surprising discoveries. Dr.
Arav & staff are looking
forward to many more surprises and spectacular finds this season.
This year two courses
will will offered at the site:
1) Photography and Archaeology instructed by photographer Hanan Shafir.
2) Archaeology and Philosophy instructed by Dr. Halla Kim, professor of philosophy
at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
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Webmaster - Shai Schwartz, Kibbutz Ginosar, Israel, contact - shai_14980@yahoo.com
Chat group - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Bethsaida/
Human interest - http://www.communitycorrespondent.com/kptm/, search for Judith Schwartz