On a cold, cloudy day in early February 1985, Shelley Wachsmann, then resident nautical archaeologist for the Israel Department of Antiquities and Museums, drove to Kibbutz Ginosar, an agricultural settlement near the shores of the Sea of Galilee. Two brothers, avid amateur archaeologists, had found a boat buried in the lake, its outlines revealed by receding lake waters. The boat was possibly ancient, according to the handwritten note placed on Wachsmann’s desk a day or two before.

So begins the fascinating story of The Sea of Galilee Boat, as Wachsmann narrates the intriguing discovery and painstaking excavation of the very first biblical-era boat ever found in the Sea of Galilee.