A British archeologist claims to have found the childhood home of Jesus Christ after he spent 14 years to study the remains of a 1st century cave in Nazareth.
Ken Dark, an archeology professor from Reading University in the UK, claims in an article published in 2015 that a stone and mortar dwelling under the Sisters of Nazareth Convent in Israel is highly likely made by Joseph, father of Jesus.
The site was first discovered in the 1880s, and was believed to be Jesus’ home as asserted by famous biblical scholar Victor Guérin in 1888, albeit the lack of proof.
The site was not excavated until the 1930s, first by the nuns whose order owned the convent above, then by a Jesuit priest between 1936 to 1964.
It was “almost forgotten by scholars” since, until Dark started his new project in 2006, and published his findings in 2015.
“Five years of intensive research on the fieldwork data has consolidated the evidence for the first-century house and fourth-fifth century churches, shedding new light on them,” Dark said in an interview.
“It has become clear that whoever built the house had a very good understanding of stone-working.”
“This would certainly be consistent with what we might expect from the home of a tekton (the term used for Joseph in the Gospels) which although usually translated as a carpenter, actually means a craftsman associated with building,” he added.
The Sisters of Nazareth convent sits at the center of modern-day Nazareth, close to the famous Church of the Annunciation – which was rebuilt over the centuries.
It is believed that the church was built on the site where the angel to Mary she would give birth to Jesus.
The Professor wrote the details of his project in his new book, The Sisters of Nazareth convent: A Roman-period, Byzantine and Crusader site in central Nazareth.