Understanding the Boat from the Time of Jesus

Shelley Wachsmann was born in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. He immigrated to Israel in 1968 where he earned all three of his degrees in Near Eastern Archaeology from the Institute of Archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. From 1976 to 1989 Wachsmann served as the Inspector of Underwater Antiquities for the Israel Department of Antiquities and Museums (now the Israel Antiquities Authority). During that time he was directly responsible for Israel’s maritime heritage. In 1986 he directed the excavation of a 2,000-year-old fishing boat found near the ancient site of Migdal, on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. This craft is representative of the type of craft described in use by the Disciples of Jesus in the Gospels. Since 1990 Wachsmann has taught at Texas A&M University where he holds the Meadows Professorship in Biblical Archaeology while carrying out extensive fieldwork, under the aegis of the affiliated Institute of NauticalArchaeology (INA), mainly in the eastern Mediterranean region. Wachsmann has written numerous scholarly and popular publications as well as five previous books of which the three most recent have garnered international book awards.