Dig "proves" Bethlehem existed centuries pre-Jesus

[rug]

JERUSALEM | Wed May 23, 2012 7:33am EDT

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli archaeologists said on Wednesday they had discovered the first physical evidence supporting Old Testament accounts of Bethlehem's existence centuries before the town became revered as the birthplace of Jesus.

The proof came, they said, in a clay seal unearthed near the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem and imprinted with three lines of ancient Hebrew script that include the word "Bethlehem".

Eli Shukron, who directed the excavation on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, said the seal apparently had been placed on a tax shipment of silver or agricultural produce sent from Bethlehem to the King of Judah in nearby Jerusalem in the 8th or 7th century BC.

"This is the first time the name Bethlehem appears outside the Bible in an inscription from the First Temple period," Shukron said in a statement, referring to the years 1006 BC to 586 BC.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/23/us-israel-archaeology-bethlehem-idUSBRE84M0MR20120523

[intaglio]

1. The problem has never been Bethlehem

Because, I believe, there was non-biblical documentary evidence

The problem is "Nazareth" - which was definitely not a city although they did find a couple of farms of the period nearby.

[Warren Stupidity]

2. yeah but it is easy to get the two confused since the names are so similar.