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Archaeologists believe
they've found a cave in the Judean Hills where it seems John the
Baptist baptized many of his followers.
They discovered the oldest baptismal site and a huge water cistern
decorated with evocative wall carvings telling the story of the
biblical preacher.
They also reported sifting about 250,000 pottery shards from the
cave, the apparent remnants of small water jugs used in baptismal
ritual. The oldest shards are from the mid-second century B.C.E.
"The site we've uncovered is seemingly the connecting link between
Jewish and Christian baptism," said British archaeologist Shimon
Gibson, who heads the private Jerusalem Archaeological Field Unit
and supervised the dig.
Gibson added that John the Baptist, who was just a figure from the
Gospels, now comes to life.
Some scholars said Gibson's finds aren't enough to support his
theory and one colleague said that short of an inscription with
John's name in the cave, there could never be conclusive proof of
his presence there.
Others said that Gibson's discovery is not an actual proof that the
John the Baptist ever set foot in the cave, located about four
kilometers from Jerusalem's Ein Kerem neighborhood, birthplace of
the preacher and the site where, Christian tradition holds, he
baptized Jesus.
"Unfortunately, we didn't find any inscriptions," said James Tabor,
a religious studies professor at the University of North Carolina at
Charlotte, which helped sponsor the dig.
Both Tabor and Gibson said it was very likely that the Byzantine-era
wall carvings, including one showing a man with a staff and wearing
animal skin, referred to John the Baptist.
Tabor said no one could ever say for certain that John the Baptist
used the cave. However, he said, the cave could help bring to life
an important part of the New Testament.
"We actually have a geographical location near Ein Kerem now, at
which water purification rites were conducted that go back to the
first century and connects them to the traditions of John the
Baptist," he said.
The discovery, if confirmed, would be among the most significant
breakthroughs for biblical scholars in memory.
Gibson, who has excavated in the Holy Land for more than 30 years,
moved a few boulders near the walls and laid bare a crude carving of
a head. Excited, he organized a full-fledged excavation.
Over the next five years, Gibson and his team, including volunteers
from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, cleared out
layers of soil, picking up about 250,000 shards from small jugs
apparently used in purification rituals.
Kibbutz Tzuba members led Gibson to the cave in 1999, and he
proceeded to measure it as part of an environmental-archaeological
survey he was conducting. To his surprise, he uncovered drawings
carved into the walls when he crawled through the small opening and
began removing boulders near the wall. The drawings, dated to the
fourth or fifth century C.E., display symbols related to John the
Baptist, including his image, decapitated head, hand (the only
bodily remnant, according to scripture), and a cross shape.
Gibson and his assistant, Rafi Lewis, spent three years excavating
the cave, which measures 26 meters long and around 4 meters wide,
with an average height of 5 meters.
St. John the Baptist
John the Baptist was the son of Zachary, a priest of the Temple in
Jerusalem, and Elizabeth, a kinswoman of Mary who visited her. He
was probably born at Ain-Karim southwest of Jerusalem after the
Angel Gabriel had told Zachary that his wife would bear a child even
though she was an old woman. He lived as a hermit in the desert of
Judea until about A.D. 27. When he was thirty, he began to preach on
the banks of the Jordan against the evils of the times and called
men to penance and baptism "for the Kingdom of Heaven is close at
hand". He attracted large crowds, and when Christ came to him, John
recognized Him as the Messiah and baptized Him, saying, "It is I who
need baptism from You". When Christ left to preach in Galilee, John
continued preaching in the Jordan valley. Fearful of his great power
with the people, Herod Antipas, Tetrarch of Perea and Galilee, had
him arrested and imprisoned at Machaerus Fortress on the Dead Sea
when John denounced his adultrous and incestuous marriage with
Herodias, wife of his half brother Philip. John was beheaded at the
request of Salome, daughter of Herodias, who asked for his head at
the instigation of her mother. John inspired many of his followers
to follow Christ when he designated Him "the Lamb of God," among
them Andrew and John, who came to know Christ through John's
preaching. John is presented in the New Testament as the last of the
Old Testament prophets and the precursor of the Messiah. His feast
day is June 24th and the feast for his beheading is August 29th.
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