Nazareth (Israel): Is this Jesus' childhood home?

Ancient text points to First Century structure where the Messiah may have lived

Daniel Bates

Source -  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2976157/Is-Jesus-childhood-home-Ancient-text-points-Century-structure-Messiah-lived.html#ixzz3TL5Ks54N 
Clues found in 'De Locus Sanctis' written in 670 AD by abbot Adomnàn

• It was supposedly based on a pilgrimage made to Nazareth by a bishop

• Text says how Jesus' home was between two tombs and below church

• Dr Ken Dark says house located beneath Sisters of Nazareth Convent

• There is evidence of a Byzantine church here with two tombs in its crypt

• One of the doorways has survived, as has part of the original chalk floor

Hewn into a hillside, this is the humble stone and mortar house where a scholar believes Jesus was raised.

It has been dated to the early 1st century by a British archaeologist who says an ancient text points to the building as being the home in Nazareth where Mary and Joseph brought up the son of God.

Professor Ken Dark says De Locis Sanctis, written in 670 by Irish monk Adomnan, described the house as located between two tombs and below a church.

A British archaeologist has identified what he believes could have been the house (exterior pictured) where Jesus was raised. Dr Ken Dark said that the humble first century home in Nazareth, Northern Israel, could have been where Mary and Joseph brought up the son of God

In the first century, two tombs were built beside what is believed to be Jesus' home. The forecourt of the tomb seen here passes through the abandoned home. Dr Ken Dark describes it as having been cut out of a limestone hillside and having a series of rooms and a stairway
The text was based on a pilgrimage to Nazareth made by the Frankish bishop Arculf and tells of a church ‘where once there was the house in which the Lord was nourished in his infancy’.
In the Byzantine era, and again in the 12th century at the time of the Crusades, the ruins of the building were incorporated into churches – suggesting it was of great significance and needed to be protected, the Reading University archaeologist argues.

The house was cut into a limestone hillside and has a series of rooms and a stairway. One of the original doorways has survived, as has part of the original chalk floor. 

The key piece of evidence linking the site to Jesus is pilgrim text called 'De Locus Sanctis' written in 670 AD by abbot Adomnàn of Iona (pictured) It was supposedly based on a pilgrimage made to Nazareth and talks about a church 'where once there was the house in which the Lord was nourished in his infancy'

The Sisters of Nazareth Convent matches this because there is evidence of a large Byzantine church with a spring and two tombs in its crypt, Dr Dark writes.The house he believes was Jesus' boyhood home stands in between the two tombs which also matches with Adomnàn's account 
Writing in the journal Biblical Archaeological Review, Dr Dark says that while he has no proof, there is ‘no good reason’ to believe it was not Jesus’s home.

He has been researching the ruins, in what is now northern Israel, since 2006. 

The house was first identified as significant in the 1880s after the chance discovery of by nuns an ancient cistern. An excavation was ordered.

Jesuit priest Henri Senes carried out more work in 1936. 

Since 2006, Dr Dark’s team has discovered broken cooking pots, a spindle whorl and limestone artefacts.

The limestone items suggest a Jewish family lived there as Jews believed that limestone could not be impure – and Mary and Joseph were living in Nazareth when the angel Gabriel revealed that Mary would give birth to the son of God, a baby to be named Jesus.

The last attempt to identify the house where Jesus grew up was in 2009 when archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority found another 1st century home they believed had been occupied by a Jewish family. Pictured an Israeli Antiquities Authority worker clears debris during the 2009 excavation
Dr Dark, a specialist in first century and Christian archaeology, argues that the house he believes was Jesus’s boyhood home matches Adomnan’s account.

It is located beneath the Sisters of Nazareth Convent, which is across the road from Church of Annunciation in Nazareth.

The Adomnan text describes two churches in Nazareth, one of which was the Church of Annunciation.

Dr Dark writes: ‘The other stood nearby and was built near a vault that also contained a spring and the remains of two tombs.’

The Sisters of Nazareth Convent matches this because there is evidence of a large Byzantine church with a spring and two tombs in its crypt, he says.

Dr Dark writes: ‘Great efforts had been made to encompass the remains of this building. Both the tombs and the house were decorated with mosaics in the Byzantine period, suggesting that they were of special importance, and possibly venerated.

‘Was this the house where Jesus grew up? It is impossible to say on archaeological grounds. 

'On the other hand, there is no good archaeological reason why such an identification should be discounted.’

In 2009 archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority found another 1st century home nearby they believed had been occupied by a Jewish family. However they were able to say only that Jesus may have lived near the site.

HOW WAS 'JESUS' HOME' FOUND?

The house is thought to be located beneath the Sisters of Nazareth Convent which is across the road from Church of Annunciation in Nazareth.

The key piece of evidence linking the site to Jesus is pilgrim text called 'De Locus Sanctis' written in 670 AD by abbot Adomnàn of Iona.

It was supposedly based on a pilgrimage made to Nazareth made by the Frankish bishop Arculf and talks about a church 'where once there was the house in which the Lord was nourished in his infancy.'

He writes: 'The other stood nearby and was built near a vault that also contained a spring and the remains of two tombs.

'Between these two tombs was the house in which Jesus was raised. From this is derived the more recent name for the church that Adomnàn described'.

The Sisters of Nazareth Convent matches this because there is evidence of a large Byzantine church with a spring and two tombs in its crypt, Dr Dark writes.

WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT 'JESUS' HOME'? 

Artefacts at the site included broken cooking pots, a spindle whorl and limestone artifacts.

The limestone items suggest a Jewish family lived there as Jews believed that limestone could not be impure. 

The house has been cut out of a limestone hillside and having a series of rooms and a stairway. One of the original doorways has survived as has part of the original chalk floor. 

The house is located beneath the Sisters of Nazareth Convent which is across the road from Church of Annunciation in Nazareth. 

Subsequent generations after the first century took great care to look after the site. The house was decorated with mosaics in the Byzantine period, suggesting that they were of special importance.