In the second half of the 19th century, Charles William Wilson and other European travelers discovered ancient ruins among the huts of a local Fellah settlement. Some thought it to be Capernaum, where according to the New Testament Jesus had taught at the local synagogue. This was likely an argument for the purchase of the area along with nearby Tell el-Oreme, by the Deutscher Verein vom Heiligen Lande [de], a Catholic society from Germany, in 1895.