Image Details
Courtesy Israel Dept. of Antiquities and Museums/Photo: Shelley Wachsmann
Where’s the boat? Buried in the mud beneath Yuval Lufan’s feet, the Galilee boat revealed its presence by a faint oval outline. Lufan and his brother Moshe, both residents of Kibbutz Ginnosar, discovered the boat while combing the Sea of Galilee’s newly exposed lakebed for remains of ancient craft. Consecutive winters of below average rainfall had caused a dramatic drop in the sea’s water level. The mudbed in which the boat was discovered is normally well under water, beyond the reach of amateur archaeologists. Even as the excavation proceeded, the lake returned and threatened to engulf the site. Only the rapid construction of a temporary dike enabled the archaeologists to finish their work.