This House In Nazareth May Have Been Jesus' Childhood Home, Says Archaeologist

Excavation in NazarethReuters

The house where Jesus may have grow up has been uncovered in Nazareth. Archaeologist Dr Ken Dark claims that the property, which was first discovered in the 1880s, could well be the place where Jesus spent his childhood.

It was only in 2006 that the building was dated to the 1st century and recent work has led Dark to say there is 'no good reason' why the limestone building isn't the place Jesus was raised.

It's located very close to the Church of the Annunciation, the place which is traditionally associated with the announcement of the birth of Jesus to Mary.

Nazareth, in the north of Israel, is a major pilgrimage site for Christian visitors from around the world who come to the town which features prominently in the Gospel accounts of the life of Jesus. It is also home to various churches and Christian communities.

Dark wrote that one of the main reasons for thinking this was a significant building is that it had been incorporated into churches which had previously been build on the site. 'Great efforts had been made to encompass the remains of this building within the vaulted cellars of both the Byzantine and Crusader churches, so that it was thereafter protected,' he said in the Biblical Archaeological Review.