Archaeologists 'find' site of Jesus first miracle where he turned water into wine

In a shocking discovery archaeologists believe they've found pieces of large stone jars of the exact kind that the Gospel says Jesus used when he performed the miracle of turning water into wine in the Galilee village of Cana during a Jewish wedding.

An eye-opening 2004 discovery by Israeli archaeologist Yardena Alexander sheds light on the extraordinary moment Jesus performed his first miracle.

Yardena believes the stone jars she found could've been the same kind of vessels the Bible says Jesus used, and is of the thinking that the site where the artefacts were found could quite possibly be the biblical location of Cana.

However, Bible scholars have argued it would be extremely difficult to obtain conclusive proof of the same, especially as the experts themselves disagree on the exact location of Cana.

Great significance is attached to the water-to-wine miracle said to have been performed at Cana - especially by Christian theologians. Not only was the act considered to be Jesus' very first miracle, it also came at a crucial time during the early days of his public ministry.

At the time, Jesus' holy reputation was spreading with fervour, his disciples had just been selected by him, and he was under immense pressure to demonstrate his divinity to the masses.

Shards of the stone jars in question were found during a salvage dig in modern-day Cana, smack between Capernaum and Nazareth. Yardena feels the Arab town was built near the ancient village. The pieces of the historically important jars themselves date back to the Roman period, when Jesus is believed to have travelled in the Galilee.

NBC News reported Yardena as saying: "All indications from the archaeological excavations suggest that the site of the wedding was (modern-day) Cana, the site that we have been investigating."

Rival site with links to Cana

At the time, Yardena wasn't the only one trying to find the site of the holy miracle. American archaeologists were excavating a rival site several miles to the north and claimed to also have found pieces of Jesus' stone jars in question. These archaeologists, too, believed they had found biblical Cana.

More excavations were needed, according to archaeologist Shimon Gibson, who cast doubt on the find at modern Cana. "Just the existence of stone vessels is not enough to prove that this is a biblical site," he said. The vessels are reportedly not rare according to the expert, and he believed it would be impossible to link one particular set of vessels to Jesus' miracle.

Based on the fragments that she found, Yardena estimated the vessels at the site to be 12 to 16 inches in diameter - sizes consistent with the jars mentioned in the Gospel of John. The discovery of a Jewish ritual bath within the house also supported the idea that it belonged to a Jewish community.

Additionally, the locally crafted pottery found at the site pointed to a humble dwelling - possibly matching the poor village described in the Scriptures.

At the time, Stephen Pfann, a respected Bible scholar in Jerusalem, felt the shards found in modern-day Cana raised new questions even though the American discovery was generally accepted by scholars as the true site of Cana and the miracle.

He said: "I think there is ample evidence that both sites are from the first century, and we need more information to correctly identify either site."

Yardena had been digging around in modern-day Cana since 1999, before the discovery of the shards finally came to light in a last-ditch 'salvage dig' attempt in 2004, just before a house was scheduled to be built on the site. A Christian Arab family had financed part of Yardena's excavation, in accordance with Israeli laws, before the construction began.

Yardena said: "We're really working very hard to save some of this site because what we do have here is a village of Jesus. And it was here that he carried out the first miracle." She was also of the belief that with additional substantial investment, the modern-day Cana site could go on to become a major pilgrimage destination and flourishing tourist attraction.