Whatever is left of the home can be found under the Sisters of Nazareth convent in Israel. It's near the Church of the Annunciation, where many Christians believe the angel Gabriel informed Mary that she would have a child.
A Nazareth home found underneath a convent is believed to possibly be the boyhood abode of Jesus, some archeologists say. Whatever is left of the home can be found under the Sisters of Nazareth convent in Israel.
It's near the Church of the Annunciation, where many Christians believe the angel Gabriel informed Mary that she would have a child.
"You're not going to find an inscription saying 'this is the house of Jesus,'" Ken Dark, professor of archaeology and history at England's Reading University, told CBS News.
He believes there's a strong case to be made for the house he's been studying for 14 years.
"There was nothing unusual about it. It's not pitifully poor, but there's no sign of any great wealth either. It's very ordinary," he told CBS News. "If this is the childhood environment of Jesus, there's no reason to believe he grew up in anything other than a very typical Galilean rural home of its time."
The building that the home is in has been dated back to first century A.D., so the home is a plausible location and the type found from that era.
"Whoever built the house had a very good understanding of stone-working. That would be consistent with the sort of knowledge we would expect of someone who might be called a ‘tektōn,’" he said.
A “tektōn” is the Ancient Greek word for craftsman that was used to refer to Joseph.
"By itself, that's not got flashing lights saying, 'this is where Jesus lived.' But it's underneath a fifth- to seventh-century Byzantine church,” he added.
The professor says, by comparison, that the Church of the Annunciation was built "over the place they believed the angel had told Mary she was going to have Jesus, [and] that is smaller than the Sisters of Nazareth church. Whatever's there, whoever built the Sisters of Nazareth church believed it was a major thing, and something that was presumably considered close to or as important as the annunciation. That doesn't leave that many options.
"I'm an archaeologist. I'm not making up stories, I'm working off evidence," he added. "What's there on the ground is very consistent, very convincing."
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