Bethsaida excavation turning ‘Bible stories into Bible realities’
Archaeological dig at El Araj in Israel confirms site as biblical Bethsaida, home of apostles Peter, Andrew, Philip. Steven Notley, academic director, presented findings at Catholic Information Center in Washington, D.C., on May 5, 2026. Excavation began in 2016 and has uncovered evidence matching 8th‑century bishop's account of a church built over the apostles' homes. The dig is considered one of the most celebrated current archaeological projects in Israel, linking biblical narratives to physical reality.
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The recent update on the Bethsaida excavation highlights that the site at El Araj has yielded a Byzantine‑era basilica and a first‑century house directly beneath its apse, findings that align with an 8th‑century account of a church built over the homes of Saints Peter and Andrew. The privately funded dig, led by archaeologist Steven Notley, continues to attract volunteers and offers tangible links between New‑Testament narratives and archaeological evidence1 2.
The El Araj project began in 2016 and has been ongoing for several years.
Steven Notley, academic director of the dig, presented the latest results in Washington, D.C., on May 5, 20261 2.
The findings correspond to the travelogue of Willibald, an 8th‑century Bavarian bishop who described a church in Bethsaida erected over the homes of Peter and Andrew.
The archaeological evidence provides material support for this early medieval account1 2.
Pope Leo XIV has recently praised Christian archaeology for giving voice to “the silence of history,” underscoring the Church’s support for endeavors like the Bethsaida dig1.
Confirm Bethsaida’s historic authenticity through archaeological evidence
Bethsaida is certainly historically referenced in ancient sources (including the Gospels and Josephus, as discussed in Catholic reference works), but the specific request to “confirm its historic authenticity through archaeological evidence” cannot be fulfilled with the sources currently available here, because none of the provided materials contain actual archaeological findings (stratigraphy, inscriptions, artifacts, or excavation reports) for Bethsaida. What can be confirmed from the provided sources is the ancient textual/historical basis and the scholarly uncertainty about the exact location, alongside the Church’s positive encouragement of archaeology as a disciplined historical method.
The Catholic Encyclopedia entry on Bethsaida describes Bethsaida as a city on the Lake of Gennesareth and explicitly connects it to Christ’s preaching and miracles (Matthew 11:21; Luke 10:13 in the Vulgate).
It further notes that the apostles Peter, Andrew, and Philip are associated with Bethsaida in the biblical tradition, for example in connection with John 1:44 and related references.
The same entry explains that older writers knew of one Bethsaida, but later scholarship raised the possibility of two locations with the same name—one east of the Jordan and one west (near Capharnaum).
It describes Josephus’s mention of a Bethsaida enlarged by Philip into a city named Julias.
It also catalogs candidate sites for Bethsaida (e.g., et-Tell / El-Araj / Mesæadîyeh / ʿAin et-Tâbigha / Khân Minyeh), and says the negative view (i.e., only one Bethsaida) seems to be gaining ground.
A further Catholic Encyclopedia article (on St. Peter) states that Peter was born in Bethsaida but that “the position of which cannot be established with certainty” (though it is “usually sought at the northern end of the lake”).
So: the place name and the historical framework are treated as real, but the precise geographic identification is not fixed in the provided sources.
The provided materials include:
None of the provided sources contains the kind of evidence typically required to “confirm” a site archaeologically (for example: published excavation layers matching a relevant period; inscriptions explicitly naming Bethsaida; diagnostic ceramics/architectural features; or peer-reviewed excavation summaries tying a specific mound to Bethsaida).
Pope Leo XIV explicitly treats archaeology as a fruitful discipline for Christian history and identity, stating that the Pontifical Institute promotes the “study and scientific research of Christian antiquities.”
He also frames memory of the past as something “illuminated by faith and purified by charity,” which supports the Church’s general openness to historically grounded research.
This provides a Catholic rationale for why archaeological evidence matters—but it does not supply the Bethsaida excavation record needed for your specific confirmation request.
Bethsaida’s ancient textual grounding is supported in the supplied Catholic materials, but the requested archaeological “confirmation” is not possible without excavation-based sources.