Tuesday, December 05, 2006

'Church of the Ark' found on West Bank
Archaeologists claimed yesterday to have uncovered one of the world's first churches, built on a site believed to have once housed the Ark of the Covenant.

The site, emerging from the soil in a few acres in the hills of the Israeli occupied West Bank, is richly decorated with brightly coloured mosaics and inscriptions referring to Jesus Christ.

According to the team, led by Yitzhak Magen and Yevgeny Aharonovitch, the church dates to the late 4th century, making it one of Christianity's first formal places of worship.


They're debating whether to keep digging or not. Some form of remote sensing (ground penetrating radar maybe) ought to probably be used to see if there's anything of interest below before taking it out. IMO.