Four students from Boston Baptist College, Julie Butler, Jacob Jezek, Michael Woundy and Matt Melton, participated in an archaeological dig on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee at Kursi Beach November 4-18. This excavation site, led by Haim Cohen of The University of Haifa, is famous for an inscription found in 2015 indicating that the site housed an ancient public building, most likely a synagogue, one that Jesus possibly visited. Kursi is also referred to as the land of Gadarenes. Some believe this is the area referenced in Mark 5 and Jesus miracle of healing the demonic man and the demons entering swine and running off a nearby cliff into the sea.
The team arrived in Israel for their two-week work-trip on a Monday night late and started their work early the next morning. 
They were at the site working from 7:00 until 3:00 every day except for Fridays and Saturdays. They worked alongside professors of archaeology from the University of Haifa. On the second day of the dig, while sifting through buckets of dirt, Butler found a Hasmonean coin which predates the time of Jesus. The professors were quick to point out that this was the exact type of coin referenced in Luke 15 and the woman that lost a coin and searched diligently to find it. Woundy found parts of an inscription that was moved to the Israel Museum in Jerusalem for further research. Melton shared of the experience, “I loved being able to see things that no one has seen in over 1,600 years.” Butler added, “I love to study biblical history and about the research that goes into it, but to be there and experience it was amazing.”
For more information on the Kursi Beach excavation click here.
