Sea of Galilee

In Luke 5:1-11, the Bible describes a miraculous event. Peter and his fishing partners caught so many fish that both of their boats started to sink. 1 We wanted to know the economic impact to Peter and his partners from this catch of fish. Using the dimensions of a boat from approximately the same time and location, we estimate that a total of 62,696 pounds of fish filled the two boats. A wage and commodity price law from 301 AD indicates this gave each of the four fishing partners 24.5-36.4 years' salary at General Laborer rates, or 12.1-18.2 years at the skilled labor rates, depending on the fish's quality. With modern financial advice saying one needs 25 years' expenses in savings to live entirely from the interest, this put Peter and his partners in good stead to leave the fishing business and work for God full time. Introduction and Background: While preparing study guides for the book of Luke, 2 we came to the story of Peter letting Jesus use his boat to preach a sermon to the people on the shores of Lake Gennesaret, another name for the Sea of Galilee 3. After He was finished using the boat, Jesus asked Peter to go back out into the lake, and let down his nets for a draw of fish. Peter decided to do it, and pulled in a record catch. He called his fishing partners over to help him, and the Bible says that both the boats were starting to sink because of the significant number of fish. After this large catch of fish, Peter and his partners decided to leave the fishing profession, and be full-time disciples.

The chapter summarizes current knowledge on fish biology in Lake Kinneret. Nineteen native fish species belonging to six families populate the lake. Three of these species are endemic to the lake and four other species are endemic to the Jordan Valley system. Eight alien species are found in the lake. Four of them are breeding in nature, three can’t breed but are regularly stocked, and one is a hitchhiker that can’t breed. Growth rate equations and weight-length relationships are presented for the dominant cyprinids (Mirogrex terraesanctae, Hypophthalmichthys molitrix, Cyprinus carpio, Barbus longiceps, Capoeta damascina, Carasobarbus canis), cichlids (Oreochromis aureus, Sarotherodon galilaeus, Tilapia zillii, Tristramella simonis), grey mullets (Liza ramada, Mugil cephalus), and catfish (Clarias gariepinus).    The long-term changes in fish community composition in the lake were associated with introduction and invasion of fishes; changes in fishing intensity; modifications of the littoral, and changes of the lake ecological regime. Temporal dynamics, spatial distribution, total abundance and biomass of fish in the lake were studied based on long-term hydroacoustic monitoring. The size structure and abundance of fish in the pelagic zone of the lake display explicit seasonal changes associated with fish spawning migrations and winter-spring recruitment of the dominant bleak M. terraesanctae. Water level fluctuations beyond natural have modified the littoral habitats, which are of specific importance during different life stages of fish. Water level has an immense impact on fish reproduction, survival, recruitment, population dynamics, and eventually determines the catches of commercially important species.
See also chapter: "Fisheries Management"

The authors present the results of four years of investigation (2016-2019) in their search for Bethsaida-Julias. They bring historical, geographical, and archaeological evidence to argue that Khirbet el-Araj should be considered the leading candidate for the New Testament home of the Apostles. Unlike the remote location of the alternate candidate at et-Tell, their excavations at el-Araj have demonstrated a significant Roman period settlement on the lakeshore of the Sea of Galilee, a much more likely location for a fishing village. In addition, their discovery in 2017 of a Roman bathhouse at el-Araj is characteristic of Herod Philip's urbanization of the village of Bethsaida, which Josephus reports was transformed from a village into the polis of Julias. After the Roman period, the site was abandoned for two centuries (4th-5th cent. ce), and then resettled with a monastery and Byzantine basilica, reportedly built over the house of Peter and Andrew.

Sedimentation is a major process for removal of particulate material from the water column and important determinant accounting for the stability of aquatic ecosystems. Gross sedimentation rates (GSR) in Lake Kinneret (Israel), regularly monitored from 1999 up-to-date with sedimentation traps, showed salient temporal and spatial variability. In the lake center, the annual mean GSR ranged from 1.9 to 6.0 g m-2 d-1. The accumulation rate of sediments at the lake centrum during the study averaged from 2.6 to 4.3 mm yr-1, in agreement with values obtained by sediment core dating. Organic matter (OM) content comprised 33-42% of the sinking particulate mater in sediment traps located in the lake centre and was 1.5-2 times lesser in peripheral stations. The highest seasonal values of OM content in traps were associated with collapse of algal blooms. Algae and their debris are the main component of OM and their fate in the water column can be well traced by photosynthetic pigments. Chlorophyte signature pigments display much lower degradability in the water column than those of diatoms and dinoflagellates and leave a relatively persistent residue in the buried sediments. Despite large variation in algal community composition, the ratio of OM sedimentation flux to primary production (i.e., the export ratio) alters only slightly throughout the stratified period. Approximately 20% of the OM supplied to the lake by primary production founds its way to the traps. A large decline of water level in recent years affected the processes of particle resuspension and offshore translocation, which caused prominent site-specific impacts on the sedimentation regime. We argue that changes in sedimentation rates observed in the lake are related to fluctuations of loads from the watershed and prominent water level fluctuations.

During 2017, the third season of excavations at Kursi Beach, a
yellow/amber glass disc-shaped pendant was found in Area D, at Tel Kursi. The pendant bears a stamped design on one side, showing a standing figure of the goddess Athena/Minerva, leaning on her right leg and holding a spear and a shield.
This pendant is part of a group homogeneous in appearance and manufacturing technique. Although such pendants have been found throughout the Mediterranean basin, to date this is only the second pendant with this motif found in Israel.

Fifty-two (52) stone tools (henceforth ST) were found at
Ein Gev excavations of the Japanese Mission headed by
A. Tsukimoto, S. Hasegawa and T. Onozuka. They were
divided into four categories: ground stone tools (GST;
n=42), devices cut in stone blocks (n=2), stone objects
(n=8), and raw material (n=1). This report includes
a typological list of Iron Age ST in Israel, where the
Ein Gev stone types are mentioned (App. A)1 as well
as a detailed catalog of these stone finds (App. B).
Their usage determines the essence of stone-made devices. Consequently, the systematic study of ST
applied in this report and other works of mine (e.g.,
Eitam 1979, 2007, 2013) centers on the significance of
stone-tools by focusing on their purpose and function.
The problem in studying ST, in general, remains the
lack of a comprehensive, agreed-upon methodology,
and the lack of a comparative classification system. At
first, a methodology and general classification system
had been established, combining GST and rock-cut
installations from various historical and prehistoric
periods (Eitam 2009) and a preliminary typology of ST
in Iron Age, Israel had been created and used as the basis
for the study of Tel Dor Area G (Eitam in preparation
a). Another major problem for the study of ST and GST
is rooted in the frequency with which an artifact’s
function changes to accomplish different tasks. GST
(contrary to pottery vessels and flint artifacts) are often
explicitly designed to perform multiple functions or
are repurposed by adding additional working face/s in
the course of its lifetime. This fundamental difference
requires a more flexible classification system to
comprehend the entire range of the device’s functions
and their significance (compare Eitam 2009, 2010: 88
versus Adams and Adams 2005; Adams 2003).

During the excavations at el-Araj, on the northern edge of the Sea of galilee, a site which was suggested as one of the candidates for the identifications of Betsaida/Julias, an Early Roman period layer was discovered, including evidence for a roman type bath house. These finds strengthen the identification.

Fish are at the top of aquatic food webs impacting on other biota. Removal of fish by fishing, or stocking the lake with desired fish species has the potential to modify fish populations (their size/age structure, abundance and biomass) and various other ecosystem components and thus affect water quality. Analysis of long-term data on the catches of commercially important fish species, stocking of fingerlings, lake water levels, and littoral modifications, allowed revealing the key factors affecting the fish populations, fishing pressure, and mass of landed fish. Long-term decreases in water level negatively affected reproduction and survival of natural/stocked fingerlings of some cyprinids (Mirogrex terraesanctae, Hypophthalamichthys molitrix, Cyprinus carpio) and cichlids (Sarotherodon galilaeus, Oreochromis aureus). In contrast, rapid rises in water level vastly enlarged the areas of inundated terrestrial vegetation and stony/rocky littoral and thus positively affected the reproduction and survival of these fish and their landing after a temporal lag. Fishing pressure on reproductively active large cichlids was enhanced at low water levels due to exposing these fish at spawning time (spring and summer) to fishermen. Such overfishing resulted in lowering the number of reproductively capable cichlids below a certain critical level, leading to a decrease in the reproductive capacity of the population and the collapse of its standing stock (i.e. “recruitment overfishing”). The endemic bleak, Mirogrex terraesanctae is the dominant pelagic zooplanktivore of Lake Kinneret. Large water level fluctuations impacted its reproduction and determined the abundance of this ecologically important species. Bio-manipulation, by mean of subsidized harvesting, implemented to suppress its abundance in critical years, was highly controversial, and was stopped in 2006. Of the stocked grey mullets, Mugil cephalus had lower natural mortality rate, higher growth rate, reached larger sizes, and thus had a higher market value than Liza ramada. Still, fingerlings of the second species were more readily available, such that L. ramada was stocked in larger numbers and was more abundant in the commercial catch. We argue that fish stock management in Lake Kinneret should focus on the restoration of native fish populations and their sustainable fishery.
See also chapter: "Fish Biology and Ecology"

Abstract. Despite several studies have focused on the past bio-sedimentary response of the Mediterranean coastal areas to ancient seaport activities, only few geoarchaeological and palaeoecological data are available on strictly lacustrine harbours, to date. At the archaeological site of Magdala/Taricheae (Sea of Galilee, north Israel), an interdisciplinary study, combining ostracod fauna composition and shell chemistry with sedimentology, geochemistry of sediments and archaeological data, was undertaken on the sedimentary succession buried beneath the Roman harbour structures in correspondence of two key-sections. This approach provided detailed information about past environmental changes, otherwise not visible, into a high-resolution pottery-based chronological framework at the transition from a natural (pre-harbour) to anthropogenically influenced (harbour) lacustrine depositional setting.

New bio-sedimentary and archaeological (pottery) data document that remarkable hydrodynamic and hydrochemical changes took place during the Hellenistic period (from the 3rd–2nd century BC to the first half of the 1st century AD), in response to the construction of the oldest Magdala harbour installations and, possibly, to the following Hasmonean structures. The high V–Cr concentrations observed in the harbour sediments, and the substantial increase of ostracod species (Pseudocandona albicans) preferring slow moving waters and fine-grained substrates point to the establishment of a semi-enclosed, shallow, and organic-rich setting. Coupled ostracod-geochemical analyses also testify to an alkali ions (Na+ and K+) enrichment within whole-sediment samples, reasonably driven by increasing evaporation in response to the partial isolation of the lake margin. The increase in sodium and potassium concentrations is accompanied by the sudden appearance of Heterocypris salina, a brackish-tolerant species, and by the almost absolute dominance of noded valves of Cyprideis torosa, whose shells are enriched in Na, K and Cl. The positive covariance between Na2O + K2O values and the frequencies of noded C. torosa seems to confirm the relation between node development and changes in ionic concentration within hypohaline settings.

Scarcity of natural shelters, and on-shore winds, prevailing on the Sea of Galilee, endangered water craft operating on the lake. Several droughts during the 1990s resulted in exceptionally low lake-levels. Consequently wide areas of the former lake-bottom were exposed, revealing ancient structures of various forms and sizes, including several mounds of undressed stones. Recently such underwater mound was reported and interpreted as an Early Bronze Age megalithic structure. Using archaeological finds, the ancient navigation and anchoring facilities on the Sea of Galilee were investigated and discussed in light of the prevailing physical conditions on the lake. A typology of the anchoring facilities is proposed. The study suggests that ever-occurring and unpredictable mega changes in the water level of the lake (up to several meters yearly) made the construction of long lasting harbors problematic and unjustified economically. To facilitate anchoring and safe mooring for water craft, when needed, small temporary "ad-hock harbors" were constructed and adopted to the changing lake levels when needed. Natural small bays (Amnun and Hale) and river estuaries (Jorden and Zaki) were also used to provide sheltered anchoring or mooring. Column drams inserted in the “Nemala Rock” located tens m offshore, and perforated stones inserted in a shore structure near Migdal were used for Mooring. Additionally, off shore stone mounds, including the newly reported one, were constructed by dumping stones from boats, thus providing anchor holds, avoiding grounding of boats by on-shore winds. They functioned at different lake levels and were also used as fish nurseries.

The relationship between the instantaneous mortality rate (Z) and the instantaneous change in length-frequency distribution of organisms per unit of animal size (μL) takes the following form: Z = μLk(L∞ − L) + k, where k and L∞ are coefficients of the von Bertalanffy equation, and L is organism size (length). Z and μL change coherently when they are measured for a specific size or age class. Therefore, observations of μL can provide information on the relative changes in mortality. This is useful when no precise information about animal growth is available and growth curve is assumed to be invariable.
  This method was tested on a heavily exploited population of mango tilapia (St Peter's fish) Sarotherodon galilaeus in Lake Kinneret. Fishing mortality was a major factor controlling the size and age distributions of the tilapia in the lake. The large increase in fish mortality between 1998 and 2002 and a concurrent decline in fish catches indicate intense overfishing. The overfishing was triggered by the decline in water level in the lake, as the low water level resulted in an elimination of the main sheltered spawning areas for tilapias, exposing spawning adults to fishermen. The reduction of the catches of S. galilaeus prompted fishermen to increase fishing efforts in subsequent years. Over the past few years fishermen used progressively smaller mesh sizes in their nets to compensate for the reduction in catch and maintain income level. Such uncontrolled fishery led to continuous depletion of standing stock and annual catches of tilapias.
  Analysis of the changes in the length-frequency distributions showed that the changes in μL over multiple years estimated for fully exploited fish reflected the respective changes in Z.

Wachsmann, S., 1986.  Shfifons—Early Bronze Age Anchor-Shaped Cult Stones from the Sea of Galilee Region.  In Thracia Pontica III (Troisième symposium international, Thème génerale "Les Thraces et les colonies grecques, VII-V s.av.n.é.," Table ronde sur les ancres anciennes, Sozopol, 6-12 octobre 1985). 3.) A. Fol, M. Lazarov, V. Popov, C. Angelova and K. Porojanov, eds. Sofia, Institut de Thracologie de l'Académie Bulgare des Sciences: 395-403, 542-554 figs. 1-554.

The interrelationships between man and his environment are an evolving and fascinating field of research that is aided by the vast fields of knowledge nowadays. Direct evidence concerning the physical foundation of the area joins biotic evidence concerning the ancient flora and fauna and the picture is complemented by the remains left by human culture, and they are evidence of the adaptation of lifestyles to the ancient environment. In this article, we will seek the help of a variety of these evidence that emerge from various archeological sites, to reconstruct the ancient environment of the sea of Galilee (Kinneret), in the last thousands of years.

Scarcity of natural shelters, and on-shore winds, prevailing on the Sea of Galilee, endangered water craft operating on the lake. Several droughts during the 1990s resulted in exceptionally low lake-levels. Consequently wide areas of the former lake-bottom were exposed, revealing ancient structures of various forms and sizes, including several mounds of undressed stones. Recently such underwater mound was reported and interpreted as an Early Bronze Age megalithic structure. Using archaeological finds, the ancient navigation and anchoring facilities on the Sea of Galilee were investigated and discussed in light of the prevailing physical conditions on the lake. A typology of the anchoring facilities is proposed. The study suggests that ever-occurring and unpredictable mega changes in the water level of the lake (up to several meters yearly) made the construction of long lasting harbors problematic and unjustified economically. To facilitate anchoring and safe mooring for water craft, when needed, small temporary "ad-hock harbors" were constructed and adopted to the changing lake levels when needed. Natural small bays (Amnun and Hale) and river estuaries (Jorden and Zaki) were also used to provide sheltered anchoring or mooring. Column drams inserted in the “Nemala Rock” located tens m offshore, and perforated stones inserted in a shore structure near Migdal were used for Mooring. Additionally, off shore stone mounds, including the newly reported one, were constructed by dumping stones from boats, thus providing anchor holds, avoiding grounding of boats by on-shore winds. They functioned at different lake levels and were also used as fish nurseries.

Fifty two (52) stone tools (henceforth ST) were found at Ein Gen and were divided into four categories: ground stones (henceforth GS; n=42), devices cut in stone blocks (n=2), stone objects (n=8) and raw material (n=1). This report includes a typology list of Iron Age ST in Israel were the stone types of Ein Gev are mentioned (App. A) and a detailed catalogue of the stone finds (App. B). The essence of stone-made devices is determined by their usage. Consequently, a systematic functional study of ST applied in this report and other works of mine (e.g., Eitam 1979, 2007, 2013), centers on the significance of the stone-tools by focusing on their tasks and uses. The main problem in studying ST in general and RCI in particular, is the lack of a comprehensive and agreed-upon methodology, and lack of a comparative classification system. At first, a methodology and a general classification system, combining GS and rock-cut installations (henceforth RCI) from various historical and prehistoric periods were established (Eitam 2009). Furthermore, a preliminary typology of ST in Iron Age Israel was determined as a base for the study of Tel Dor (area G, (Eitam in preparation a). Another major problem of the study of ST and GS in particular is rooted in the frequent changing of the artifact's usage to accomplish different tasks. GS (usually in regard to pottery vessel and flint artifact) is often a multi-tusk device, by adding various working face/s along its lifetime, or by initial designing.

A tombstone of the Byzantine period (fifth-sixth centuries CE) was discovered during recent conservation work in the bathhouse of the Early Islamic palace of al-Ṣinnabra at Tel Bet Yeraḥ/Khirbat al-Karak in the Jordan Valley. The stone appears to identify a functionary, possibly of the adjacent church excavated by Delougaz and Haines in 1952-53. We discuss the status of the church and possible significance of the reuse of the stone in the bathhouse floor.