Have archaeologists really discovered the house where Jesus Christ of Nazareth grew up in?
The house, which is primarily made of mortar-and-stone walls was first discovered in the 1880s by nuns at the Sisters of Nazareth convent. But it was only in 2006 when a group of archaeologists led by Ken Dark traced the house's roots to the time of Jesus, and the University of Reading professor from the United Kingdom said that it is quite possible the Savior was raised there.
"Was this the house where Jesus grew up? It is impossible to say on archaeological grounds," Dark wrote in the Biblical Archaeology Review. "On the other hand, there is no good archaeological reason why such an identification should be discounted."
Centuries after Jesus' time, the Byzantine Empire (which controlled Nazareth until the seventh century) decorated the house with mosaics and even constructed a church known as the "Church of the Nutrition" over it. Because of the efforts made to preserve the house, Dark believes that it could have been the home of Jesus. He even commented that the house is in "excellent preservation."
Crusaders who visited the Holy Land much later even tried to fix up the church after it went into ruins, suggesting that both the Byzantines and Crusaders placed high value in the home beneath it.
"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," Dark said.
"Both the tombs and the house were decorated with mosaics in the Byzantine period, suggesting that they were of special importance, and possibly venerated," he added.
The archaeologists found broken cooking pots, a spindle whorl (used in spinning thread) and limestone vessels inside the house. The limestone vessels prove that a Jewish family lived there, because Jews strongly believe that limestone could never become impure.
"The structure included a series of rooms," described Dark. "One, with its doorway, survived to its full height. Another had a stairway rising adjacent to one of its walls. Just inside the surviving doorway, earlier excavations had revealed part of its original chalk floor."
More of Dark's and his team's findings will published in future journal articles in the Palestine Exploration Quarterly and The Antiquaries Journal. They believe that it will take some time before other scholars will study their findings and weigh in on Jesus' possible home.
