Bonus 78 - Kinneret Boat

The 'Sea of Galilee Boat' housed in the Yigal Alon Museum
in Kibbutz Ginosar, Yigal Allon Center.
Public Domain. Photo Berthold Werner

Following a drought in 1986 the level of the Sea of Galilee fell well below normal levels, Moshe and Yuval Lufan, two fishermen from Kibbutz Ginosar, uncovered the wooden frame of an ancient fishing boat. 1.  It was a unique discovery for a wooden boat to be uncovered in fresh water. It dates to the first century and has been called the “Sea of Galilee boat” or the “Jesus boat.” Although it is unlikely that Jesus used this very boat, it is almost certain that Jesus used a boat identical to this one to fish with his disciples (Matt 13:47-48).

Footnotes

• 1. Shelly Wachsmann, Kurt Raveh, and Oma Cohen, “The Kinneret Boat Project, Part I. The Excavation and Conservation of the Kinneret Boat,” International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 16 (1987): 233

Jesus Boat Website

For Further Study

• Charlton, Jr.. William H. “Building a Model of the Kinneret Boat.” Institute of Nautical Archaeology Quarterly. Volume 19, No 3. (Fall 1992): 3-7.
• Cohen, Oma.  “Conservation of the Ancient Boat from the Sea of Galilee.”  ‘Atiqot 50 (2005): 219-236.
• Peachey, Claire. “Model Building in Nautical Archaeology: The Kinneret Boat: An Underwater View of the Ancient World.” The Biblical Archaeologist Vol. 53, No. 1, (Mar., 1990), pp. 46-53 .
• Raban, A. “The boat from Migdal Numia and the anchorages of the Sea of Galilee from the time of Jesus.” International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 17, no. 4 (1988): 311-29.
• Steffy, J. Richard, and Shelley Wachsman, “The Migdal Boat Mosaic.” in Kinneret Boat 1990, 115-118.
• Steffy, J. Richard. “The Kinneret Boat Project, Part II. Notes on the Construction of the Kinneret Boat.” International Journal of Nautical Archaeology 16 (1987): 325-29.
• Wachsman, Shelley, ed. “The Excavations of an Ancient Boat in the Sea Of Galilee (Lake Kinneret).” 'Atiqot 19. English Series. Jerusalem: Department of Antiquities and Museums, 1990.
• Wachsmann, Shelley.  The Sea of Galilee Boat: A 2000 Year Old Discovery From The Sea of Legends.  Cambridge, Massachusetts: Perseus, 2000.
• Wachsmann, Shelley. The Sea of Galilee Boat. New York, N.Y.: Basic Books, 2007.
• Wachsmann, Shelley. “The Galilee Boat – 2,000-Year-Old Hull Recovered Intact.” Biblical Archaeology Review 14, no. 5 (Sept/Oct 1988): 18-33.