Employing a remote control robotic camera to search inside an intact first century tomb in the south of the Old City of Jerusalem has brought new evidence to light that might change current assumptions about the first Christians.
The findings of the research include two limestone ossuaries, one with a Greek inscription asking God to raise up someone or rise up, and the other with iconography on it most probably depicting Jonah and the whale.
According to scholars, if the markings prove to be Christian, then these two findings will be the earliest archaeological examples of Christian art craft found to date.
If the archaeologists are correct in their assumptions, this would mean that the findings preceded the writing of the gospels and a new long discussion about the nearby Tomb of Jesus will be raised once again. However, there are many scholars who remain skeptical over such early findings due to lack of supportive contextual evidence.
The excavations were funded by Discovery Channel, Vision Television and Associated Producers.
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