A 2,000-Year-Old Midwife’s Tomb: Jesus’ Caretaker Revealed?

As part of an ongoing archaeological dig, researchers from the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) have finally begun excavations in the area around a 2,000-year-old burial cave. Although the cave was discovered 40 years ago, this is the first time the surrounding area has been investigated. If that’s not intriguing enough, it is also said to be the burial place of Salome, the midwife in the Bible who gave birth to the baby Jesus.

Who was Salome?

According to Christian beliefs, Salome lived in Bethlehem and was asked to help deliver Jesus. When he arrived, he couldn’t believe the child was born of a virgin, but he went to work anyway. After he was born, she held him in her arms, who had an unspecified injury, and he was miraculously healed. It was Salome who proclaimed that “a great king [había] born in Israel.”

Excavation of a Hellenistic structure by the Israel Antiquities Authority in the Lachish Forest, November 16, 2021. (Photo credit: GIL COHEN-MAGEN/ AFP/ Getty Images)

Although the place, which dates back to the 1st century AD. C., it was a Jewish funerary complex, in later centuries it became an important Christian site due to its association with the biblical midwife. A Byzantine chapel was built nearby and became a pilgrimage site, a conclusion archaeologists were able to confirm after examining the contents of the area.

Discovering the front yard

Solome Cave was first discovered 40 years ago by looters, but was soon after investigated by an antiquities doctor, Amos Kloner. This research was stopped before they could discover the front courtyard of the cave, and now the project is being taken up by new researchers. The space is approximately 350 square meters, surrounded by stone walls with many mosaic floors.

Excavations of a cave supposedly the burial place of Salome, who according to non-canonical scriptures was nurse to the newborn Jesus, have found more signs that it was both an important Jewish tomb and a Christian pilgrimage site, archaeologists say .

They were also able to discover the entrance to the cave and the chapel inside, all of which were quite elaborate in design. Researchers have come to the conclusion that the family it belonged to was extremely wealthy, as they were able to invest a lot of money in the details. For example, the walls leading into the cave include stone carvings of pomegranates, rosettes, and vases.

What they found inside

However, the most intriguing element of the front yard is what was built there years after the original burial site. The excavations uncovered rows of sales stalls used by pilgrims who came to the site to rent or buy clay lamps. According to two of the IAA excavation directors:

In the store we found hundreds of complete and broken lamps dating from the 8th and 9th centuries AD. The lamps could have been used to illuminate the cave or as part of religious ceremonies, similar to the candles that are distributed today in the tombs of the characters. virtuous and in the churches.

Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologist Saar Ganor presents pottery found at an excavation site in the Lachish Forest, Nov. 16, 2021. (Photo credit: GIL COHEN-MAGEN/ AFP/ Getty Images)

It is not known whether the cave was actually Salome’s burial place, but many inscriptions on the walls and the fact that a Christian chapel was built indicate that it was dedicated to her for a long time. IAA director Saar Ganor explained that Salome’s Cave and the forecourt will be open to the public once the corresponding investigations and restorations have been completed.