<Dd> Sea of Minya </Dd> <P> From the Umayyad through the Mamluk period the lake was known in Arabic as "Bahr al - Minya", the "Sea of Minya", after the Umayyad qasr complex whose ruins are still visible at Khirbat al - Minya . This is the name employed by the medieval Persian and Arab scholars Al - Baladhuri, Al - Tabari and Ibn Kathir . </P> <P> In 1989, remains of a hunter - gatherer site were found under the water at the southern end . Remains of mud huts were found which are the oldest known buildings in the world . See Ohalo . Nahal Ein Gev, located about 3 km east of the lake, contains a village from the late Natufian period . The site is considered one of the first permanent human settlements in the world from a time predating the Neolithic revolution . </P> <P> The Sea of Galilee lies on the ancient Via Maris, which linked Egypt with the northern empires . The Greeks, Hasmoneans, and Romans founded flourishing towns and settlements on the land - locked lake including Hippos and Tiberias . The first - century historian Flavius Josephus was so impressed by the area that he wrote, "One may call this place the ambition of Nature"; he also reported a thriving fishing industry at this time, with 230 boats regularly working in the lake . Archaeologists discovered one such boat, nicknamed the Jesus Boat, in 1986 . </P>

Where is the sea of galilee mentioned in the bible