The 2024 season of excavation at el-Araj was conducted during two sessions: July 21-August 1 and September 15-26.

 

Because we were excavating during a time of active war on the northern border, we did not have volunteers. Instead, we worked primarily with our Bedouin laborers. 

 

Area E. This area was opened in the previous season and lies at the easternmost area of the excavations about 80 m east of Area A. This season we opened a second square and dug the first square deeper. We found two additional walls which connected to the former one. There is an earlier layer to these walls, but we will only be able to understand their relationship in the coming season. Both the pottery and coins are from the Byzantine period, and we are wondering whether these walls belong to the monastery already identified in area A. Our goal in 2025 is to dig deeper to answer these questions.

 

Area A. We continued to dig on the eastern side of the church, where remains of a compound of rooms were discovered in former seasons. These walls appear to be earlier than the church. Since no coins came out directly from good loci between the walls, our dating now is only according to the pottery. It is clear that the pottery is from the late 4th-early 5th centuries and predates the basilical church. This season we cleared the Crusaders remains of the kilns, which used some of the earlier walls. We do not have clear answers yet about these walls, but we will continue next season. Our hypothesis at present is that this compound is an early Christian sacred place built over the site, which preserved a memory of "the house of St. Peter." Some years later the structure was demolished to build the basilica.

 

Inside the basilica we dug a small probe where the mosaic was missing.  In the probe we identified earlier walls (Roman or Early Byzantine).  Nearby we uncovered the earlier stylobate of the church.

 

Area D. A small dig was made in the deepest part of the southern square where we found a wall built of large uncut stones. The pottery is clearly of the Hasmonaean era (late 2nd century to early 1st century BCE). The date was strengthened by the identification of a Hasmonaean coin. We assume that this is the early settlement of the Jewish village of Bethsaida.