4th Century Church in Megiddo

If you didn’t read it, this is fascinating:

Israeli archaeologists said they have discovered what may be the oldest Christian church in the Holy Land on the grounds of a prison near the biblical site of Armageddon.

The Israeli Antiquities Authority said the ruins are believed to date back to the third or fourth centuries and include references to Jesus and images of fish, an ancient Christian symbol.

“This is a very ancient structure, maybe the oldest in our area,” said Yotam Tepper, the head archaeologist on the dig.

The dig took place over the past 18 months at the Megiddo prison in Israel’s northern Galilee region, with the most significant discoveries taking place in the past two weeks, Tepper said. Scholars believe Megiddo to be the New Testament’s Armageddon, the site of a final war between good and evil.

Tepper said the discovery could reveal more about an important period of Christianity, which was banned until the fourth century.

“Normally, we have from this period in our region historical evidence from literature, not archaeological evidence,” he said. “There is no structure you can compare it to. It is a very unique find.”

Come on the heels of the uncovering of the Pool of Siloam and what could possibly be King David’s Palace.

Miss Mabrouk has a link to another fascinating discovery:

The story of a mysterious massacre in the royal city of Mendes in the Nile delta area is being unearthed by archaeologists who were stunned to find some 36 bodies in a mass grave under a temple.

They found old and young, men and women, tumbled in disordered heaps. In a civilization that made a cult of death, such discoveries are rare: even the poorest were interred formally, and with some provision for the afterlife.

It is an astonishing discovery; the arid climate in Egypt helps in preservation but this part of the country has been inundated by the Nile every year, at times for up to ten months of the year. Archaeologists say the bodies “are virtual powder in the mud.”

Speaking of Miss Mabrouk, I like her question here:
Evolution or intelligent design? Darwin against God? The current debate in the U.S. is bizarre: why would you not teach science and be able to introduce the opposing theories at the same time? I thought learning was about realizing how little we actually know. Is not Plato speaking to American educators any longer?