About 5‚000 years ago an artist in Egypt painted an apparent nativity scene onto the rocks of a small cave—a tableau similar to crèche scenes that depict Jesus being laid in a manager in a cave or barn. The Egyptian scene‚ the oldest one known‚ includes two adults‚ a baby between them ascending‚ some animals and a dot above them and to the right‚ possibly indicating a star in the east. The Italian researcher who discovered the scene kept it a secret when he found it in 2005‚ said a story about the find on Seeker.com. It is the oldest known nativity scene in the world - the word nativity means birth - and the researchers named it ‘The Cave of the Parents’. Although there is not too much more information to be found about the depiction‚ and even now the original report on Seeker is illusive‚ the reported find is certainly a curiosity. An Ox‚ an Ass … a Dragon? Sorry‚ there were no Animals in the Bible’s Nativity Scene Nativity Scene Hidden Under Baptist Beheading Painting Ancient Nativity Scene Discovery: A 3‚000-Year Prelude “It's a very evocative scene which indeed resembles the Christmas nativity. But it predates it by some 3‚000 years‚" geologist Marco Morelli‚ who discovered the painting‚ told Seeker.com at the time. In 2016‚ he was the director of the Museum of Planetary Sciences in Prato‚ Italy. Read moreSection: NewsHistory &; ArchaeologyRead Later