The name used by some versions of the New Testament for the site east of the Jordan where John the Baptist preached and performed baptisms, where he met with a group of priests and Levites sent by the Pharisees to investigate his ministry, and where he baptised Jesus. The name “Bethabara” also appears on the 6th-century Madaba Map and in the Talmud.
Bethany, for the place where John was baptising “with water” and where he named Jesus “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”(John 1:28-29)
In the late 1990s, when mine clearing operations east of the Jordan at Wadi Al-Kharrar enabled archaeological digs to unearth an ancient church marking baptism on a site where the Jordan River flowed in the first century, matching the place marked on the Madaba map. The local Arabic name of the site is Al Maghtas, “the immersion/baptism”. This site, just east of the Jordan River and slightly north of the place where it empties into the Dead Sea, is most likely to be the place where John the Baptist was baptizing:
The archaeological survey and excavation of the eastern side of the Jordan River was initiated in 1996-1997 season as part of the Jordan Cultural Resources Management Project. The archaeological remains are located along the southern edge of Wadi al-Kharrar. The sites are scattered over small hills and barren terraces of marland limestone. The work up to date has identified over 15 related sites from the Roman, and Byzantine periods.
The key discoveries are the Roman remains and Byzantine monastery at al-Kharrar, ancient Bethany Beyond the Jordan River., several smaller churches, chapels, monks hermitages, caves and cells; a large Byzantine church complex adjacent to the Jordan River’ an impressive water system included ceramic pipeline bringing water to Bethany beyond Jordan; several Kilometers to the east; a large plastered pools and adjacent caravanserai halfway between the Bethany settlement and the Jordan River, a pilgrims’ rest station and caravanserai east of Bethany, on the route to Mount Nebo; and other scattered remains. Most of the sites are clustered along the south bank of the Wadi al-Kharrar perennial stream.