A new season of archaeological excavation at El-Araj on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee has produced a substantial body of new evidence from the Roman-period settlement that archaeologists have been investigating as a leading candidate for ancient Bethsaida-Julias.
During the tenth season of the El-Araj Excavation Project in 2026, archaeologists reached Roman-period levels in all of the principal excavation areas under investigation during the summer campaign. Among the finds reported by the project are three intact Herodian oil lamps, a Roman discus lamp, more than 150 coins, fragments of chalkstone vessels, numerous fishing weights, Roman-period walls, a well-preserved taboon with a ceramic vent, a basalt grinding stone and half of a Doric capital that excavators believe probably decorated a public building.
Taken individually, none of these discoveries identifies the ancient settlement by name. Taken together, however, they add important archaeological data to a question that has occupied historians, archaeologists and New Testament scholars for generations: where was Bethsaida, the fishing settlement that the ancient sources associate with the northern Sea of Galilee?
The results are especially significant because they provide further information about the character, economy and chronology of El-Araj during the first centuries BCE and CE.
What was discovered at El-Araj in 2026?
The Bethsaida-Julias / El-Araj Excavation Project described the summer of 2026 as its tenth excavation season. According to the project's final summer summary, excavation areas D, F and G all reached Roman-period levels.
One of the richest areas was Area G.
Excavators reported the discovery of a remarkably well-preserved taboon, or ancient oven, together with an attached ceramic vent. Several groups of coins were recovered there as well, contributing to a summer total of more than 150 coins from the excavation.
Coins are particularly valuable in archaeological contexts because, when recovered from secure stratigraphic contexts, they can help archaeologists establish chronological ranges for occupation phases and architectural changes.
Perhaps the most immediately striking small finds were three intact Herodian lamps discovered together with a discus lamp.
The El-Araj excavation team notes that this type of knife-pared Herodian lamp was produced in Jerusalem before the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. Their presence at El-Araj therefore contributes to the evidence for a Jewish population at the site during the early Roman period.
The specialist archaeological website Associates for Biblical Research subsequently highlighted these lamps among the significant first-century artifacts recovered at El-Araj during the 2026 season.
Jewish stone vessels and the early Roman settlement
The lamps are not isolated evidence.
Excavators also report that pieces of chalkstone vessels were recovered in all of the principal excavation squares.
Stone vessels have particular significance in the archaeology of Jewish settlements of the late Second Temple period because stone, unlike pottery, occupied a distinctive place within Jewish purity practices. Their distribution therefore provides archaeologists with an important indicator when reconstructing the cultural identity of a settlement.
The recurrence of this material across different excavation areas at El-Araj adds to earlier discoveries of Jewish material culture at the site.
The archaeological picture emerging from the excavations is therefore not merely one of Roman occupation. It indicates a settlement that retained a substantial Jewish character during the period in which the site was developing under Roman political and cultural influence.
That question is central to the proposed identification of the site with Bethsaida-Julias.
According to Josephus, Philip the tetrarch elevated Bethsaida to the status of a polis and renamed it Julias. Archaeologically, researchers therefore have reason to look for evidence not merely of a small fishing village but of a settlement undergoing significant transformation during the early Roman period.
Fishing weights and the economy of the Sea of Galilee
Another important category of evidence recovered during the 2026 season consists of scores of fishing weights.
Fishing weights were found across the excavation areas, according to the project, reinforcing the picture of fishing as a significant component of the settlement's economy.
That evidence is particularly relevant at El-Araj because ancient Bethsaida is repeatedly associated with the world of the Sea of Galilee.
The Gospel of John identifies Bethsaida as the town of Philip, Andrew and Peter, while the broader New Testament tradition places several of these figures in a fishing environment.
Archaeology cannot establish the biographies of individual New Testament figures through fishing weights alone. What it can do is test whether the material character of a proposed site is compatible with what ancient literary sources describe.
In the case of El-Araj, evidence of fishing activity is now distributed across multiple excavated areas.
A Doric capital and evidence for public architecture
One of the visually most interesting finds reported from Area D during the 2026 season is half of a Doric capital.
The excavation team interprets it as having probably belonged to a public building.
Roman-period walls, coins and a basalt mortar were also recovered from this area.
The capital matters because the identification of Bethsaida-Julias involves more than demonstrating that people lived at El-Araj during the first century. Josephus describes the transformation of Bethsaida into Julias, a polis established under Philip the tetrarch.
Evidence relating to public or monumental architecture therefore potentially contributes to understanding the process by which the earlier settlement developed during the Roman period.
The precise architectural context of the Doric capital will require continued excavation and analysis, and its original building has not yet been definitively identified. Nevertheless, its discovery adds another element to the increasingly complex picture of the Roman settlement.
More than 150 coins from the 2026 summer campaign
The project's report that more than 150 coins were recovered during the summer excavation is also significant.
Individual coins must be cleaned, identified and interpreted within their stratigraphic contexts before strong historical conclusions can be drawn. Yet a large numismatic assemblage can provide critical evidence for the chronology of occupation, economic activity and development of different areas of a site.
The 2026 season began with the discovery in Area G of a city coin dating to the second–third centuries CE, and further coins continued to appear as excavation moved through the Roman strata.
The accumulated evidence is helping researchers refine the chronology of El-Araj across the Roman period.
Why El-Araj is being discussed as Bethsaida-Julias
Excavations at El-Araj began in 2016 under the direction of archaeologist Prof. Mordechai Aviam, associated with the Kinneret Institute for Galilean Archaeology, together with Prof. R. Steven Notley, academic director of the El-Araj Excavation Project.
Earlier seasons had already established occupation at the site during the relevant Roman period.
Among the previous discoveries were Roman-period houses, pottery and coins, fishing equipment, stone vessels and the remains of a Roman bathhouse.
The bathhouse became especially important to the discussion because such an installation indicates a level of Roman-style urban development beyond what might ordinarily be expected in an isolated fishing village.
Excavations also uncovered a large Byzantine basilica.
In 2022, researchers announced a Greek mosaic inscription within the church referring to a figure described with a title associated with Peter, an important discovery in reconstructing Byzantine Christian memory of the site.
Later excavation beneath the basilica revealed Roman-period architectural remains.
The Museum of the Bible, which supports the excavation project, describes El-Araj as a major candidate for Bethsaida and has hosted presentations by Notley and Aviam concerning the site's archaeology, the Byzantine church and the historical traditions associated with Peter and Andrew.
The 2026 discoveries strengthen the dataset — but the archaeological question remains a scholarly one
The newest finds should not be described as a single discovery that "proves" that El-Araj is Bethsaida.
That would go beyond what archaeology can presently establish.
The importance of the 2026 season lies instead in the accumulation of evidence.
The new Herodian lamps provide additional material relevant to first-century Jewish occupation.
The chalkstone vessels reinforce the evidence for Jewish material culture.
The large number of fishing weights contributes to reconstruction of the site's economy.
The coins help refine its chronology.
The Roman walls and other structures add information about the settlement's development.
And the Doric capital may offer another indication of architecture associated with an increasingly urbanized Roman-period community.
It is precisely the convergence of geography, chronology, material culture, fishing activity, Roman-period development and later Byzantine memory that has made El-Araj one of the most closely watched archaeological sites in the study of ancient Galilee and New Testament geography.
The scholarly debate over Bethsaida nevertheless requires comparison with alternative proposed locations, ancient geographical descriptions, changing shorelines of the Sea of Galilee and the complete archaeological record.
The discoveries are already attracting international attention
The new 2026 material has begun to receive coverage beyond the excavation project's own reports.
On 10 August 2026, Associates for Biblical Research published a report specifically devoted to the newly discovered first-century artifacts from El-Araj, emphasizing the Herodian lamps, chalkstone vessels and fishing weights.
In September, Bible Archaeology Report included the El-Araj discoveries among its major archaeological reports for August 2026.
An extensive All Israel News feature published on 22 August reviewed the tenth excavation season and the larger archaeological case developed during a decade of work at the site.
The Museum of the Bible is likewise presenting Aviam and Notley together in connection with the newest discoveries from the excavation.
The growing attention reflects the unusual position of El-Araj at the intersection of archaeology, ancient Jewish history, Roman Galilee, historical geography, early Christianity and New Testament studies.
Aviam and Notley to present the latest El-Araj results at EHJ 2026
The archaeologists at the centre of the project will now discuss the site together during the European Hebrew Journal International Scholarly Online Conference 2026.
Prof. Mordechai Aviam and Prof. R. Steven Notley will participate in a special extended joint session on Saturday, 7 November 2026, at 23:00 CET / 17:00 New York time.
The session is scheduled for approximately 90–120 minutes, allowing the two researchers to approach the El-Araj question from complementary perspectives.
Notley will address the historical geography of Bethsaida-Julias, ancient textual evidence and the geographical framework surrounding the identification of the site.
Aviam will focus on the archaeology itself, including the excavation, material remains and the newest field results.
Their joint presentation is titled:
El-Araj / Bethsaida: New Discoveries from the 2026 Excavation Season
The session will examine the latest archaeological evidence, historical geography and the continuing scholarly investigation of El-Araj as a candidate for Bethsaida-Julias.
The full speaker profiles, session information and subsequent updates to the presentation abstract are available on the dedicated Mordechai Aviam and R. Steven Notley EHJ 2026 presentation page.
Why the 2026 season matters
Ten excavation seasons after systematic work began at El-Araj, researchers are no longer asking whether a Roman-period settlement existed at the site.
The more precise questions now concern its scale, chronology, economic character, urban development and historical identity.
The 2026 discoveries provide new data for each of those questions.
They document Jewish material culture, fishing activity, Roman-period occupation and potentially public architecture within a settlement situated beside the Sea of Galilee.
Whether future scholarship reaches a universal consensus identifying El-Araj with Bethsaida-Julias remains to be seen.
But the archaeological record available for that discussion is becoming substantially richer.
And with further excavation planned, the 2026 season may represent not an end to the investigation, but another important stage in reconstructing one of the most debated settlements in the historical geography of the Galilee.