|   The Eastern Province(Saudi Arabia)Bordering the Arabian Gulf and  containing the towns of Dhahran, Al-Khobar, Dammam, Qatif, Hofuf and Jubail, the  Eastern Province is where oil was first discovered in Saudi Arabia in the 1930s.  Near Jubail are the ruins of what was unearthed in the mid-1980s by a group  of people attempting to dig their vehicle out of the sand. The ruins are known  as the Jubail Church and are acknowledged by the Saudi bureaucracy who will not  issue permits to visit it because "the site is being excavated." In any case,  the ruins originally contained four stone crosses, which later went missing,  though the marks where the crosses were are still visible. The ruins are thought  to date from the 4th century, which make them older than any known church in  Europe. Not much else is known but speculation is that it was in some way  connected to one of the five Nestorian bishoprics which are known to have  existed in this area of the Gulf in the 4th century.    |