Nazareth may be best known for its famous ancient resident -- Jesus -- but as British-Israeli archaeologist Yardenna Alexandre notes in this week's The Times of Israel Podcast, the once small village with huge name recognition has existed well before and well after his lifetime.

In our conversation, Alexandre discusses what archaeology tells us about the Jews who lived in Nazareth and its surrounding towns and villages two millennia ago, and how, by hewing into the soft chalk stone under the village houses, the residents evaded taxes, and also may have saved their skins during the Great Revolt against the Romans in 66 CE.

Among her digs, in 2009, Alexandre discovered the first example of a residential building from the time of Jesus near today's Church of the Annunciation.

Image: IAA archaeologist Yardenna Alexandre inside a subterranean room in Nazareth. (Screen shot)

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