Cross of Jesus found? A stone chest that was uncovered during the excavation of a 1,350-year old church in Turkey may have housed a piece of the cross of Jesus. Archaeologists say the piece of the cross of Jesus was found with a number of religious relics.

Archaeologists will be performing tests to determine if the cross of Jesus was found.

A historian at Turkey's Mimar Sinan University of Fine Arts Professor, Gülgün Köroğlu, who was leading the excavation told the Hurriyet Daily News, “We have found a holy thing in a chest. It is a piece of a cross, and we think it was [part of the cross on which Jesus was crucified]. This stone chest is very important to us. It has a history and is the most important artifact we have unearthed so far.”

The archaeologists were doing excavation work on the ancient Balatlar Church in Sinop, Turkey, on the shores of the Black Sea. The church is housed in a seventh-century building. Balatlar Church was built in 660. Köroğlu said that her excavation team also unearthed the ruins of an ancient Roman bath. She said they also found more than 1,000 human skeletons. The team began excavation at the site in 2009.

The archaeologists do not know who owned the chest, but they believe it was a religious person of some importance who believed the holy relic was real. The stone chest has been taken to a laboratory for further testing. The discovery may give further evidence of the historical Jesus.

Archaeologists also recently announced that they found ancient "halls of the dead" in England.

Worldwide, many churches have laid claims to possession of the so-called "true cross." Scholars and scientist have never authenticated any of the items. Protestant theologian John Calvin wrote, "if all the pieces that could be found were collected together, they would make a big ship-load." Nineteenth-century French archaeologist Charles Rohault de Fleury countered that all of catalogued relics would only make up less than a third of the mass of a 12-foot-high cross.

According to legend, Emperor Constantine's mother, Helena, found the cross of Jesus in Jerusalem and sent pieces of the holy relic to religious leaders in Jerusalem, Rome, and Constantinople