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CBN.com – For centuries, the Sea of Galilee has been a vital source of commerce, recreation and survival for the people of Israel. Economics in the Galilee region are directly affected by the condition of the sea. So, in the winter of 1986, when the water level had dropped substantially, two brothers, Uffi and Moshe Lufan, both fishermen, were able to walk where they normally would have fished. As they explored part of the uncovered seabed they made an amazing discovery.
“So, this place we are looking day after day and when day we see a nail in the mud and looking good, it’s a roman nail,” recalls Uffi. “We are not archeologists. And after twenty minutes another one and another one. And we cleaned the place and we see the wood and we said ‘wow, we have found a boat. We are jumping, we are bouncing, we are crazy.’”
Once the Israel Department of Antiquities was notified, marine archeologists were sent in to examine the find.
“And they called me and told me there is an ancient boat of the Sea of Galilee,” explains Orna Cohen. “I said, ‘impossible, it’s a fresh water lake with a lot of bacterial activity -- couldn’t be that anything preserved in this condition.’ So, they came for a one day preliminary excavation and they found it’s an ancient boat.”
The team of archeologists began the painstakingly tedious task of carefully excavating the boat. Eleven days later, the excavation was done. Now, it was up to Cohen, the project conservator, to come up with a way to protect, move and then preserve the fragile boat.
Cohen says, “Everyone said it needed so much time and effort and money. In this demand, it’s no chance it will survive so long exposed. So, I had to come up with something that would be quick and easy to apply. And I used this material (a Styrofoam substance) for smaller objects on excavation to lift them. It’s never been used before on such huge scale.”
Once it was braced with fiberglass ribbing, polyurethane foam was used to seal the entire boat. It was decided that the best solution for moving it was to float the boat to the Vigal Allon Centre for the conservation process.
Cohen became the first person in centuries to ride on the boat. She says, “It took us a lot of effort to bring the boat from a sponge-like, soft and falling apart thing to a stable condition -- in dry condition. We had to use like 65 tons of chemicals for 14 years. It took a lot of effort. We also had when we started the chemical process; we had an awful bacterial attack that almost destroyed the boat.”
One method of fighting the bacterial outbreak was the use of a familiar resident of the Sea of Galilee. St. Peter’s fish were put into the tank with the boat to eat worms and help stop bacteria from destroying the boat.
“It took us about 14 years to preserve it to bring it to this dry condition,” Cohen explains. “Since 2000, it’s been exhibited in this nice museum and it’s stable and in good condition.”
The museum built a special climate controlled wing to maintain the correct humidity and temperature to preserve the boat. But, if the boat is over 2,000 years old, who did it belong to? Is it possible that it could have been used by Jesus and his disciples?
“We know it’s a boat from the time of Jesus,” says museum curator Marnia Vanai. “No question about it, the boat was carbon 14 dated, this is just a fact. Now, to whom this boat exactly belonged, we don’t know. But, we do know that these were the kinds of boats used on the Sea of Galilee when Jesus lived here. So, maybe he didn’t ride on the boat but, he probably saw the boat. Now, in those times in the Galilee, the Romans were the ones in power and there were, of course, Jews or maybe even pagan fishermen. And Christianity started. No boat this old survived in fresh water. It’s a real miracle.”
But, no matter who it really belongs to, Uffi says that finding the boat he affectionately refers to as “she” has had an impact on his life that is nothing less than miraculous.
“She changed all my life,” he says. “Because before, I did not believe in God. Now, I believe in God. I walk here on the beach many, many times and I feel when I am walking, I walk the steps where Jesus walked. He took the same steps as me. I feel all the time like touching the sky. This is my life. Before I found the boat, I caught fish. Now, I catch people.”
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