Archaeologists May Have Found the Oldest Copy of One of the Gospels-(A mummy's mask)

tatler ^ | January 21, 2015 | Chris Queen

[virgil283]

"New technology that allows scientists to remove the glue from the masks of mummies without damaging the ink on the paper used to make the mask has yielded an exciting discovery: a piece of papyrus that may contain the oldest known copy of one of the gospels.

The finding, a fragment of the Gospel of Mark, which dates back to the year 90, is one of several fascinating texts that archaeologists are discovering in the masks of mummies.

This first-century gospel fragment was written on a sheet of papyrus that was later reused to create a mask that was worn by a mummy. Although the mummies of Egyptian pharaohs wore masks made of gold, ordinary people had to settle for masks made out of papyrus (or linen), paint and glue. Given how expensive papyrus was, people often had to reuse sheets that already had writing on them....."

[virgil283]

Evans emphasized that the masks that are being destroyed to reveal the new texts are not high-quality ones that would be displayed in a museum. Some are not masks at all but are simply pieces of cartonnage. Archaeologists are finding not just biblical texts, but fragments of writings by Homer and other Greek writers, as well as documents that capture slices of everyday life in that time period.

Evans told Live Science, “We’re not talking about the destruction of any museum-quality piece.”

The technique is bringing many new texts to light, Evans noted. “From a single mask, it’s not strange to recover a couple dozen or even more” new texts, he told Live Science. “We’re going to end up with many hundreds of papyri when the work is done, if not thousands. Archaeologists are finding not just biblical texts, but fragments of writings by Homer and other Greek writers, as well as documents that capture slices of everyday life in that time period ”

..... http://metro.co.uk/2015/01/20/does-this-mummy-mask-contain-the-worlds-oldest-gospel-5029707/

[Bayard]

A Gospel manuscript that was in circulation well enough to be used in a first century mask is likely to have been written and known by those with a living memory of Jesus.

[Darteaus94025]

They made a documentary about this 15 years ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7oKxlaUBac

[virgil283]

thanks, I’ve not seen that...

[SunkenCiv]

Archaeologists are finding not just biblical texts, but fragments of writings by Homer and other Greek writers, as well as documents that capture slices of everyday life in that time period.

Thanks virgil283.

• Papyrus Found in Mummy Mask May Hold Oldest Known Gospel Text
• OLDEST KNOWN GOSPEL RETRIEVED FROM MUMMY MASK, RESEARCHERS CLAIM
• Mummy Mask May Reveal Oldest Known Gospel

sidebars:

• 1st-century New Testament fragment: more details emerge
• Earliest manuscript of Gospel of Mark reportedly found
• A colonial heritage in scholarly interpretations of Mark's gospel
• Early copy of the Gospel of Mark is a forgery

[BenLurkin]

He’s got a guilty expression. Maybe he was ashamed.

[WayneS]

The biggest mystery to me is how they got the platypus to sit still while they were writing on it.

[WayneS]

He who smelt it dealt it...

[bunkerhill7]

It`s called “PAPER MACHE’ masks”.

well duhhhhhhhh