Archaeologist Addresses Role of Women in Church

Dr. Randall Younker, an archaeologist at Andrews University, gave a presentation Monday evening titled “Archaeology, Women and the Early Church.” He focused on the presence and impact of women in the early church, as well as the changes that took place over time. Younker is a faculty member at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary, director of the PhD program in Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Archaeology and the Institute of Archaeology.

Younker’s interest in this topic was piqued by a discovery at a site where he was working with Andrews University students in San Miceli, Sicily. [See note at the end of this story.] One of the excavation sites is centered on a Christian basilica that dates to the fourth century. Approximately one hundred years ago, an archaeologist began exploring this site; however, it has been left untouched since then. Younker’s team discovered that a woman was buried in a prominent area within the church. “She was very rich. She had a gold necklace. She had a gold diadem for her head. She had gold earrings,” Younker said. The woman must have been an important member of the congregation, Younker explained, because “she was buried next to the priest in the front of the church in a very prominent place. … They had her buried right under the altar.” Other women were also buried in the church, where priests and bishops would normally be buried. Women were clearly important to this congregation, Younker determined.

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