Ancient Jewish House found in Nazareth

The Israel Antiquities Authority is saying it dates to Jesus' time. At a minimum, this confirms the village is at least that old. Of that there should have been little doubt anyway, even without the New Testament.

Nazareth's valley may be a lousy place for a fortified city, but it's a perfect location for a small village (hidden from three sides on semi-high ground with good, sloping run off; midway between Sepphoris and the Lake; close to good farmland and other resources; probably at least one natural spring). I'd have loved to hear them say it was a hundred years older. As I suggested in August, a longstanding community would be more likely to have established a large collection of Hebrew scrolls and to have built a 'proper' Synagogue building. A younger village more likely would have met each Sabbath in somebody's house and may or may not have had scrolls.

As it is, the site could yield more clues to help reconstruct what Jesus' town was like and how many people lived there. Whatever we learn, it's a wonderful discovery. Read all about it: (IAA press release; AP article).