[2] The southern rock-cut chamber contained ceramic datable to a period stretching from approximately the first century BC till 70 AD, an interval that includes the presumed lifetime of Zechariah, Elizabeth and John.

[2] The southern rock-cut chamber contained ceramic datable to a period stretching from approximately the first century BC to 70 AD, an interval that includes the presumed lifetime of Zechariah, Elizabeth and John.

[2] In the one identified by him as "the house of Zechariah .... where the holy Virgin came to greet Elizabeth", he mentions, on the left side, a "small cavern, in which John the Forerunner was born.

[7][8] The Muslim inhabitants forced the Catholics to abandon the site a few times during the 17th century and used the grotto and buildings as stables, even after the Sultan issued a firman confirming Franciscan property over it in 1672, obtained through the influence of the Marquis de Nointel, the French Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire.

"[13] In 1883, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) noted: "The Church of the Baptist, in the village itself, is of Crusading origin; but the interior has been covered with encaustic tiles, and none of the older work is recognizable.

The dome rises from four heavy piers; the grotto north of the high altar (at the east end of the church), is reached by seven steps; it is said to be the birthplace of St. John.

[2] Design and construction of the upper level of the structure began in 1938, and was completed by Italian architect Antonio Barluzzi in 1939, preserving all extant Byzantine and Crusader remains as part of the new shrine.