The Kerem a-Ras antiquities site is located west of Kfar Cana, in the Lower Galilee, c. 4 kilometers north of Nazareth.

From 1999-2005, nineteen small salvage excavations were conducted along the fringes of the site with the objective of exposing and documenting the archaeological remains in the field prior to issuing building permits for lots slated for construction. Remains from different periods were revealed in the archaeological excavations, beginning from the Iron Age through the Persian, Hellenistic and Roman and Byzantine periods, or in historic terms, the periods of the First and Second Temple  and of the Mishnah and Talmud.

The site was occupied during all of these periods and in each of the habitation layers there are finds that reflect the nature of the settlement in that period.

The lecture will briefly review the finds that were uncovered in the  excavations, with an emphasis on the characteristics of the different strata. In addition, suggestions will be made how to connect the archaeological finds with the historical sources about the Galilee during these periods.

The archaeological finds dated to the Early and Middle Roman periods are especially numerous and have revealed to us a village that is unequivocally Jewish in nature. We do not know the ancient name of the village and the Arabic name, “Kerem a-Ras” (‘top of the vineyard” in Arabic), refers to the olive trees that were planted there in the Middle Ages. Kerem a-Ras is situated near Kfar Cana, and based on the archaeological finds there, we can state with certainty that the ancient settlement in Kfar Cana developed only from the end of the Roman period.  The churches in Kfar Cana commemorate Jesus’ miracle of turning water into wine that occurred according to the New Testament at a wedding in “Cana in Galilee”.

Based on an examination of the archaeological assemblage, the historical sources and the pilgrim traditions, we propose that Kerem a-Ras is “Cana in Galilee”, dating to the Early Roman period and that the neighborhood in Kfar Cana was founded in the Late Roman period against the backdrop of the split that occurred between the Jews and the early Jewish-Christians.