In 1839, the American scholar, Edward Robinson, suggested that a mound known as e-Tell, although set back from the Sea of Galilee, was probably the ancient city of Bethsaida. A few decades later, Gottlieb Schumacher, a scholar from the German colony in Haifa, maintained that it was implausible that a fisherman's village could be located so far from the Sea. Excavations and geological surveys began in 1987 and have concluded that Robinson was right. E-Tell is Bethsaida. Two large towers flanked the entrance.
Massive steles stand at the gate opening and one is a decorated stone with a bull-faced warrior .
The city gate led to a large palace complex, with a spacious paved plaza. Among the outstanding discoveries made in the palace, was a small falence figurine of the Egyptian fertility god Pataikos . The excavations revealed a residential quarter which included a few simple courtyard houses. Above the city gate there was a structure which may have been the temple dedicated to the Roman Imperial Cult of Livia-Julia. Among the outstanding finds was a bronze incense shovel which is common in Roman temples.