Archaeologists look over a mosaic discovered in Shiloh

Shiloh, Dec, 4: Archaeologists claimed yesterday to have uncovered one of the world’s first churches, built on a site believed to have once housed the ark of the covenant.

The site, emerging from the soil in a few acres in the hills of the Israeli occupied West Bank, is richly decorated with brightly coloured mosaics and inscriptions referring to Jesus Christ.

According to the team, led by Yitzhak Magen and Yevgeny Aharonovitch, the church dates to the late 4th century, making it one of Christianity’s first formal places of worship.

“I can’t say for sure at the moment that it’s the very first church,” said Aharonovitch, as he oversaw a team carrying out the final excavations before winter yesterday. “But it’s certainly one of the first.” He said the site contained an extremely unusual inscription which referred to itself, Shiloh, by name.

“That is very rare and shows early Christians treated this as an ancient, holy place,” said Aharonovitch. According to the Old Testament, the ark of the covenant, which contained the two tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments, was kept by the Israelites at Shiloh for several centuries.

It was eventually moved to the Holy of Holies in the Jerusalem temple that the Bible says was built by King Solomon around 1000 BC. When the temple was sacked by the Babylonians 400 years later, the ark was lost, sparking theories about whether it had been hidden or destroyed.