Did Jesus preach at Magdala?

THE DAILY MAIL: Did Jesus preach at this synagogue? Archaeologists excavate 2,000-year-old ruins in ancient town of Magdala where Christ is thought to have taught disciples

• Synagogue is thought to have been focal point when Jesus visited Magdala
  
• Ruins discovered during preparation to build a hotel beside Sea of Galilee
  
• Ancient town of Magdala lies under what is now Migdal in northern Israel
  
• Jewish artefacts date back to the time of Jesus and the rise of Christianity
  
• Discovery has led to thousands of Christian pilgrims visiting the site
  
• Site now owned by Catholic organisation Legion of Christ who claim Jesus preached at the synagogue during his time in what is now northern Israel
(Richard Grey).

This story is not new, but is being widely disseminated in the media for Christmas. Its real interest is the discovery of a first-century synagogue at this site, whatever the site may have been called in the first century. Did Jesus preach there? Maybe, but the identification of the site with a supposed Magdala ("The Tower") from which Mary came is based on a chain of inferences that is not entirely secure. It's not even clear that Mary's nickname referred to her home town. Maybe she was just tall. Joan Taylor (who seems to be coming up a lot here lately) gave her professorial inaugural lecture at KCL on this question and I heard it when she presented it at a plenary session of the 2014 British New Testament Conference.

Much background on the excavation of Magdala is here and links.

UPDATE (27 December): The Mail article seems to have vanished, at least for now, but here is an earlier one from the Mail that covers some of the same ground with a heavy emphasis on Mary Magdalene: The clues found near Mary Magdalene's home that suggest Jews and early Christians once worshipped together (Victoria Woollaston). And here's a more recent one from Israel Today: Synagogue Where Jesus Preached Uncovered (David Lazarus).