Why It Matters
Prior to the discovery of the Kinneret boat, there was quite a bit of debate about the accuracy of several of the New Testament stories involving Jesus, his disciples and their use of boats on the Sea of Galilee. In particular the story of Jesus calming the storm was questioned because of two details in the story. The first was, "How could anyone sleep in an open boat in a storm that was so severe that it frightened veteran sailors?" The discovery of the Kinneret boat surprised the world by showing that these boats had two decks which would make it possible to be shielded from the storm under them. The second question is an interesting one, "Why would a fishing boat have pillows on it?" It turns out that these boats carried ballast bags to adjust the trim of the boat. These sand-filled bags are still commonly referred to as "pillows!" Based upon these findings we can see that Jesus was asleep under one of the decks with his head on a ballast bag which he used for a pillow.
Details of the discovery of the Kinneret boat and more information can be found in the book, "The Sea of Galilee Boat, an Extraordinary 2000 Year Old Discovery" by Shelly Wachsmann.
