Rahat, Israel, June 19, 2024
An archaeologist points to wall art at the site of a Byzantine-period church in the northern Negev, an Israeli desert. According to archaeologists, it opens a window to the world of Christian pilgrims visiting the Holy Land 1,500 years ago. The Israel Antiquities Authority announced the discovery of the art May 23, 2024. (OSV News/courtesy Israel Antiquities Authority)
Archaeologists working in the Negev Desert in Israel are calling a new discovery a “greeting from Christian pilgrims” from 1,500 years ago.
In the desert, a Byzantine-era church was unearthed with drawings of ships on the wall, which “provide first-hand evidence about the ships [pilgrims] traveled in and the maritime world of that time,” says Israel Antiquities Authority director Eli Escusido, reports National Catholic Reporter.
For the archaeologists, the depictions are a “greeting from Christian pilgrims” who traveled by sea to the Gaza port and then visited the church. Scholars believe the drawings are meant to be accurate depictions of the actual ships they took to the Holy Land.
“The pilgrims began their pilgrimage following Roman roads leading to sites sacred to Christendom, such as Jerusalem, Bethlehem, the monasteries in the Negev Hills, and in the Sinai,” the archaeologists said. “It is reasonable that their first stop after alighting from the ships in Gaza port was this very church revealed in our excavations south of Rahat. This site lies only a half-day’s walk from the port.”
It’s noted that such depictions are also found in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.
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