A piece of stone with crosses carved on it was unearthed in a church in Turkey may have belonged to Jesus, Hurriyet Daily News website reported on Thursday.
“We have found a holy thing in a chest. It is a piece of a cross, and we think it was [part of the cross on which Jesus was crucified]. This stone chest is very important to us. It has a history and is the most important artifact we have unearthed so far,” Hurriyet Daily quoted head of the excavation team, Professor Gülgün Köroğlu, as saying.
The excavation continues at Balatlar Church, which was built in A.D. 660 by the Byzantines, in the northern Turkish province of Sinop.
Köroğlu, an art historian and archaeologist at Turkey’s Mimar Sinan University of Fine Arts, said her team also found more than 1,000 skeletons.
She added: “I hope this year will be a very fruitful working season for us. We have learned many things during the excavation that we did not previously know.”
The excavation at the church started since 2009.
Also Read
-
Iranian cleric rebukes Ahmadinejad for Chavez-Jesus resurrection remark
A leading Iranian cleric has chided President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for saying that his late Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez will be resurrected ... Home Page -
Egyptian Christians happy Mursi is gone but remain wary
The evening Egypt’s army ousted Islamist President Mohammed Mursi, Christian lawyer Peter Naggar celebrated on Tahrir Square with even greater ... Features -
Two Orthodox bishops held in Syria freed, Christian group says
An association of Middle Eastern Christians on Tuesday said that two Orthodox bishops reportedly kidnapped by rebels in northern Syria have been ... Middle East
