Aqaba - American archaeologists excavating in southern Jordan have found what they believe is the oldest remaining Christian church in the world. They say the mud-brick monument, set just a few hundred metres from the shimmering waters of the Red Sea, may have been built 1,700 years ago by the Christian community of Ayla, a flourishing outpost of the Roman empire.
"We think the church was built in the late third century and if that date holds true it would be older than the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem or the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem," an archaeologist, Mr Thomas Parker, said.