Archaeologists have discovered the remains of a Jewish dwelling in Nazareth. Credit: Israel Antiquities Authority.

Archaeologists have discovered the remains of a Jewish dwelling that dates from early Roman times – thought to be when Jesus was a boy in the then hamlet of Nazareth.

The structure is the first dating to the era of Jesus, built around 2,000 years ago and within a hamlet of around 50 impoverished Jewish families.
The discovery was made when builders began digging up the courtyard of a former convent to make room for a new Christian centre.

Excavators from Israel’s Antiquities Authority then found the remains of a wall, a hideout, and a cistern for collecting rain water.
It was found near the place where angel Gabriel is believed to have told Mary that she would give birth to Jesus.

Director of the dig, Yardenna Alexandre, said: “The building that we found is small and modest and it is most likely typical of the dwellings in Nazareth in that period.”

She said the 1st Century home, near the present-day Church of the Annunciation, is believed to have housed a “simple Jewish family” in two rooms and a courtyard.

She described Nazareth, now Israel’s largest Arab city with a population of 65,000 people, as a “small hamlet” during the time of Jesus.
“This may well have been a place that Jesus and his contemporaries were familiar with,” Alexandre continued.

The archeologists also found a camouflaged entry way into a grotto, which Alexandre believes was used by Jews to hide from Roman soldiers who were battling Jewish rebels for control of the area.

Alexandre said similar camouflaged grottos were found in other ancient Jewish communities of the lower Galilee, such as the nearby biblical village of Cana, which did witness battles between Jews and Romans.

They also found clay and chalk vessels likely used by Galilean Jews of the time, thus concluding that a Jewish family lived there because of the chalk, used to ensure the ritual purity of the food and water kept inside the vessels.

The dwelling will now become a part of the new centre, which is being built by the French Roman Catholic group, Chemin Neuf.