Nazareth's ancient bathhouse in troubled water. From the Sydney Morning Herald:
Elias Shama's small souvenir shop in Nazareth, the town of Jesus's childhood, barely catches the eye. Tourists usually pass by it on their way to the neighbouring Mary's Well church, claimed by the Greek Orthodox church as the site where the Archangel Gabriel revealed to Mary that she was carrying the son of God.
Before the Palestinian intifada erupted three years ago, the shop did a steady tourist trade. Now, with constant stories of Palestinian suicide attacks in the news, the pilgrims are long gone.
This northern summer, though, forensic archaeologists and biblical scholars have been poring over a network of tunnels Mr Shama unearthed under his shop several years ago. They believe he has made a discovery that will change our understanding not only of the Holy Land but of the life of Jesus himself.
Mr Shama began excavating the tunnels after he and his Belgian wife, Martina, bought the shop in 1993, and found a series of 1.2-metre-high passages, separated by columns of small bricks supporting a white marble floor. In one corner they found a walled-off room where a residue of wood ash revealed it once served as a furnace.
The American excavators believe that what Mr Shama has exposed is an almost perfectly preserved Roman bathhouse from 2000 years ago - the time of Christ, and in the town where he was raised. The effects on Holy Land tourism are likely to be profound, with Nazareth becoming a challenger to Jerusalem and Bethlehem as the world's most popular site of Christian pilgrimage.
Richard Freund, an academic behind Holy Land digs in the Jordan Valley, in the ancient city of Bethsaida and at Qumran, said the significance of the find cannot be overstated.
"I am sure that what we have here is a bathhouse from the time of Jesus," he said, "and the consequences of that for archaeology, and for our knowledge of the life of Jesus, are enormous." [continue]
Meanwhile, Ananova reports that experts rebut claim of biblical bathhouse in Jesus' hometown.
Related:
Is this where Jesus bathed? - The Guardian