…Specific historical notices sometimes light up dark points in the New Testament, as in a British Museum decree of Gaius Vibius Maximus, prefect of Egypt (104 AD), ordering all who are out of their districts to return to their own homes in view of the approaching census (compare Lu 2:1-5)… (International Standard Bible Encyclopedia Online).

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See also a really good article by AIG on archaeology, entitled: Does Archaeology Support the Bible?

Here are census specific links:

• Census of Augustus Caesar
• Is Luke Wrong About the Time of Jesus’ Birth?
• Was There Really A Census During the Time of Caesar Augustus?
• Once More: Quirinius’s Census