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        <title>Christian Daily International | Archaeology</title>
        <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/archaeology</link>
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            <title>Christian Daily International | Archaeology</title>
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        <copyright>Christian Daily International © 2026</copyright>
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                <title><![CDATA[Archaeologists uncover Second Temple-era Jewish settlement from time of Jesus]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/archaeologists-uncover-second-temple-era-jewish-settlement-from-time-of-jesus</link>
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                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[CDI Staff]]></dc:creator>
                                                                                                                            <media:content  url="https://www.christiandaily.com/media/original/img/0/53/5360.jpg">
                            <media:title><![CDATA[The purification bath as discovered on site.]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Photo: Emil Aladjem, Israel Antiquities Authority ]]>
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                                                                                        <media:description type="plain">
                                    <![CDATA[ The purification bath as discovered on site. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Wed, 30 Sep 2026 07:30:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[Archaeologists in southern Israel have uncovered evidence of a previously unknown Jewish settlement dating to the era of Jesus and the early church, highlighted by the successful extraction of an intact 2,000-year-old ritual purification bath (mikveh) weighing 25 tons.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
Archaeologists in southern Israel have uncovered evidence of a previously unknown Jewish settlement dating to the era of Jesus and the early church, highlighted by the successful extraction of an intact 2,000-year-old ritual purification bath (mikveh) weighing 25 tons.
The excavation in the new Carmei Gat neighborhood, funded by the Israel Land Authority with 28 million NIS ($7.6 million), revealed what the Israel Antiquities Authority described as the first Second Temple-period Jewish community documented in the area between the Judean Lowlands and the northern Negev.
Alongside the ancient mikveh, Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) archaeologists discovered stone measuring vessels. Such vessels were commonly used during the Second Temple period because, according to Jewish purity laws, stone was not considered susceptible to ritual impurity.
“The Jewish settlement we discovered here is the first and the only known one in this area,” said IAA excavation directors Dr. Elena Kogan-Zehavi, Maayan Margulis and Shira Lifshitz.
Findings indicate that the Jewish community abandoned the site during the Bar Kokhba Revolt in the second century A.D. The location was later resettled during the Byzantine period.
To protect the 4-meter-wide ancient structure from nearby construction, conservationists spent two weeks securing its delicate plaster with adhesives and foam. Engineers then drilled beneath the bath and placed steel support beams underneath it, allowing a 300-ton crane to lift the 25-ton structure onto a transport vehicle.
The ritual bath was temporarily moved under police escort to the National Treasures Department storage facilities in Beit Guvrin.
“If it falls apart, we’ve lost the mikveh,” said Eyal Kaho, senior conservator at the IAA. “There’s simply no price that can compensate for mistakes.”
Once residential development is completed, officials plan to return the ancient purification bath to Carmei Gat and incorporate it into an open public space at the heart of the new neighborhood.]]></content:encoded>
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                                                        <item>
                <title><![CDATA[Hidden garden found beneath Jerusalem church matches gospel account of Jesus’ tomb]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/hidden-garden-found-beneath-jerusalem-church-matches-gospel-account-of-jesus-tomb</link>
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                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Eyte]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Church of the Holy Sepulchre]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Commons Wikimedia ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Church of the Holy Sepulchre and surroundings. Ancient tombs found in the church ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Tue, 22 Sep 2026 08:25:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[Excavations beneath the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem have revealed an ancient garden and burial landscape that archaeologists say is consistent with the description of Jesus’ burial site in the Gospel of John.]]></description>
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Excavations beneath the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem have revealed an ancient garden and burial landscape that archaeologists say is consistent with the description of Jesus’ burial site in the Gospel of John.
Francesca Romana Stasolla, an archaeologist at Sapienza University of Rome, spoke to the Daily Mail following the completion of investigations at the Jerusalem site.
The excavation took place beneath the site of the first church complex constructed by Roman Emperor Constantine in the fourth century and dedicated in A.D. 335. Constantine’s workers reportedly uncovered a rock-cut tomb identified as Christ’s burial place during the initial construction.
Although there is no direct archaeological proof of Jesus’ burial at the site, the deliberate Roman and Byzantine construction history around the tomb suggests that early Christian generations may have preserved knowledge of its location.
“The archaeological area beneath the Church of the Holy Sepulchre reveals the long history of a part of Jerusalem that, in the early fourth century A.D., underwent the monumentalization of Christological memory,” Stasolla told the Daily Mail. “In this case, I believe that the archaeological evidence should be used primarily to understand the places and contexts in which Christian memory took shape and became firmly established.”
The original Constantinian complex suffered extensive damage during the Persian Sassanid invasion in A.D. 614 and was later completely destroyed in A.D. 1009. The core of the structure standing today dates largely to 12th-century Crusader-era reconstruction.
The church is built over an abandoned stone quarry outside ancient Jerusalem, where cultivated plots and rock-cut tombs existed side by side. The discoveries stem from excavations beneath the church floor that began in March 2022 and concluded in 2025.
The findings provide archaeological evidence for the historical context of the Holy Sepulchre site, although they do not establish that Jesus was buried there. The site is one of several proposed locations associated with Jesus’ burial, including the Garden Tomb elsewhere in Jerusalem.
“We have found evidence of a funerary landscape, alongside small areas planted with vines and olive trees, as well as a pastoral landscape characterized by sporadic human activity,” Stasolla said.
Findings from the excavations were detailed in a 98-page report published in Liber Annuus, the journal of Jerusalem’s Studium Biblicum Franciscanum.
The excavations enabled researchers to reconstruct the site’s early topography, including cultivated plots, stone quarry faces descending nearly 20 feet below the current church floor and adjacent burial chambers.
As stone extraction gradually ceased, workers filled the deepest areas with soil and built low dry-stone walls to create small agricultural plots.
“Evidence of cultivation is provided by archaeobotanical and pollen remains, which have enabled us to reconstruct a landscape suitable for pastoralism, with natural vegetation used for grazing,” Stasolla said. “This type of Mediterranean landscape was widespread throughout the region and coexisted with the abandoned quarry area and the presence of rock-cut tombs.”
Archaeologists dated the cultivated landscape to a period spanning Jesus’ lifetime — after quarrying stopped but before Emperor Hadrian rebuilt the area in the second century. However, without direct radiocarbon dating of the plant remains, researchers cannot definitively establish that the garden was cultivated at the exact time of Christ’s crucifixion.
“The Church of the Holy Sepulchre gives monumental form to the sites where, since very early times, tradition has located the memory of Christ’s death and resurrection,” Stasolla said. “Archaeology undoubtedly attests to the enduring nature of this commemorative tradition.”]]></content:encoded>
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