Archaeologists are claiming that a piece from the cross where Jesus was crucified has been found in Turkey.

According to reports, the artifact was found as the scientists were excavating the Balatlar Church in Sinop, Turkey -- an ancient building reported to be built in the seventh-century.

Huffington Post reports that the piece of the cross was found inside a stone chest, along with other "objects that may be directly connected with Jesus Christ."

"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," Professor Gülgün Köroğlu, the head of excavations, told Hurriyet Daily News.

Köroğlu, a historian and archaeologist at the Mimar Sinan University of Fine Arts in Turkey, says the chest could be a symbolic coffin for "the relics of a holy person", NBC News noted. The items within the chest were also suspected to be associated with Jesus' crucifixion.

"During the excavations, we have seen many things that we didn't know about before. Sinop has gained a very good ancient site that we will show visitors," the archaeologist told Hurriyet.

According to the Daily Mail, the relic may have reached Turkey following the "religious legend" that when the cross was founded in 325 AD, it was sent to religious leaders all over the world, including Constantinople or modern-day Istanbul.

Huffington Post says the stone chest has already been forwarded to the laboratory for testing. Notably, in their four years of excavation in the site near the Black Sea, skeletons of over 1,000 people were also found.

NBC News also noted that other relics connected to the cross can also be found at the Shrine of the True Cross and the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Texas.

(Video Courtesy of NBC)