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Because Nazareth was not mentioned by Paul or Josephus and did not appear in the Talmud, some thought that town only came into being decades or even centuries after Jesus. However archaeologists have found lists of priests who were sent from Jerusalem to other places after the Temple was destroyed in 70 A.D.--and in the lists was Nazareth.
Furthermore, first century tombs have been discovered at the Nazareth site as well as the remains of three watch towers, irrigation trenches, and agricultural terraces. There is agreement that a village consisting of eighty to one hundred houses existed there during the first century A.D
The study of first century ports surrounding the Sea of Galilee--Capernaum, Gergesa, Magdala, and Tiberias--was made possible by a modern drought. A well-preserved first-century fishing boat found near Magdala adds to the information on fishing in the Sea of Galilee.
In John's Gospel (5:2) we find the affirmation that the Pool of Bethesda had five porticos (porches). This accurately describes the ruins of the double pool that are still located to the north of temple area and is identified as the site where Jesus healed a paralytic.
Further archaeological evidence takes the form of Roman coins dated A.D.29 and 31 that bear the name of Pontius Pilate. An inscription bearing Pilate's name was also discovered in 1961 in Caesarea thus corroborating the Gospel and extra biblical material affirming that Pilate was procurator of Judea at the time of Jesus' crucifixion.
Archaeology has also corroborated the Gospel's references to coins--Jewish, Greek, and Roman. The widow's "mite" or "copper coin" was a Jewish coin worth half a "kodrantes." Matthew (10:29) tells us that "two sparrows were sold for a "farthing"--actually a Roman "assarion" worth four "kodrantes." The Roman "denarius" (equivalent to the Greek "drachma") was a small silver coin considered to be normal wages for a day's labor (Matthew 20: 2, 9, 10). Excavations have found all of these coins, dated from the time of Jesus and the Gospels.
Christian symbols and prayers to Jesus have been discovered by archaeology that can be dated to less than a quarter of a century after Jesus' death. E.L. Sukenik discovered two ossuaries in a tomb near Jerusalem that were dated to A.D. 50. On them were charcoal graffiti of four crosses and the phrases "Iesous iou" and "Iesous aloth" The first phrase is understood as a prayer to Jesus for help, the second a request that Jesus would raise the person whose bones occupied the ossuary. These graffiti are believed to be the earliest Christian inscriptions.
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