AP: Group Discovers John the Baptist Cave

AP ^ | 08/16/2004 | KARIN LAUB

[Phlap]

By KARIN LAUB, Associated Press Writer

KIBBUTZ TZUBA, Israel - Archaeologists said Monday they have found a cave where they believe John the Baptist anointed many of his disciples — a huge cistern with 28 steps leading to an underground pool of water.

During an exclusive tour of the cave by The Associated Press, archaeologists presented wall carvings they said tell the story of the fiery New Testament preacher, as well as a stone they believe was used for ceremonial foot washing.

They also pulled about 250,000 pottery shards from the cave, the apparent remnants of small water jugs used in baptismal ritual.

"John the Baptist, who was just a figure from the Gospels, now comes to life," said British archaeologist Shimon Gibson, who supervised the dig outside Jerusalem.

However, others said there was no proof that John the Baptist ever set foot in the cave, about 2 1/2 miles from Ein Kerem, the preacher's hometown and now part of Jerusalem.

"Unfortunately, we didn't find any inscriptions," said James Tabor, a religious studies professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

Tabor and his students have participated in the excavations.

Both Tabor and Gibson said it was very likely that the wall carvings, including one showing a man with a staff and wearing animal skin, told the story of John the Baptist. The carvings stem from the Byzantine period and apparently were made by monks in the fourth or fifth century.

Gibson said he believed the monks commemorated John at a site linked to him by local tradition.

Gibson said the carvings, the foot washing stone and other finds, taken together with the proximity of John's hometown, constituted strong circumstantial evidence that the cave was used by John.

John, a contemporary of Jesus who also preached a message of redemption, is one of the most important figures in Christianity. The discovery, if confirmed, would be among the most significant breakthroughs for biblical scholars in memory.

The cave is on the property of Kibbutz Tzuba, an Israeli communal farm just outside Jerusalem. A member of the kibbutz, Reuven Kalifon, knew of the cave's existence — the community's nectarine orchards run right up to the mouth of the cave — but it was filled with soil almost to the ceiling.

In 1999, Kalifon asked Gibson to inspect the cave more closely.

The archaeologist, who has excavated in the Holy Land for three decades, crawled through the small opening and began removing boulders near the wall of the cave. When he pushed aside one of the stones, he saw a head carved into the wall — the top of the figure he believes depicts John.

Gibson, who heads the Jerusalem Archaeological Field Unit, a private research group, organized an excavation. During the five-year project, he wrote a book, entitled "The Cave of John the Baptist," to be published later this week.

Gibson said the cave — 24 yards long, around four yards wide and four yards deep — was carved in the Iron Age, somewhere between 800 and 500 B.C., by the Israelites who apparently used it as an immersion pool.

"It apparently was adopted by John the Baptist, who wanted a place where he could bring people to undergo their rituals, pertaining to his ideas of baptism," Gibson said.

Believers would have walked down 28 stone steps. To their right, they would have discarded their clothes in a niche carved into the wall.

At the bottom of the steps, they would have placed the right foot onto a stone with an imprint of a foot. A small depression to the right of the imprint would have contained oil, to be poured over the foot for cleansing, Gibson said.

[Phlap]

Now call me cynical but I see this as a money maker and little else. They have no real evidence he was ever there. But if it covers their expenses and they make a few bucks John won't mind I'm sure.

[kinsman redeemer]

he saw a head carved into the wall — the top of the figure he believes depicts John.

This part make sense to me.

[basil]

Actually, I'm not quite so cynical as you. We may never know for sure if this is the actual cave of John the Baptist--but I find the whole idea intriguing. Imagine spending 5 years on this project! It's certainly sounds as if it's a very interesting and important find, regardless if it's determined not to be John's cave.

[ChewedGum]

Pretty sad though when his whole argument is basicially "Well, it could have been used by John the Baptist!"

This is science!

Gum

[Asclepius]

During an exclusive tour of the cave by The Associated Press, archaeologists presented wall carvings they said tell the story of the fiery New Testament preacher, as well as a stone they believe was used for ceremonial foot washing.

So what they mean is that they found a cave with a cistern that seems to have been used as a place to venerate John the Baptist. But John himself would have had nothing to do with the place.

John and the others of his sect--Galileans, mainly, who opposed the Pharisees and their practice of purification by means of elaborate mikvot, or cisterns within the holy city--preferred ritual purification in "living waters", i.e. rivers, streams etc., outside of the city in the wilderness where John and other baptists or immersers lived. (And there were many besides John.)

[Sacajaweau]

Non-conclusive excavations are the best. They provide "scientists" with oodles of "Here's What I Think" books and the demand for "more funding". Not only that, their best buddy is writing the conflicting opinion. It's a Win-Win!

The Shroud of Turin is the best example. In the end, it can NEVER be proven to be Jesus' shroud. At the very most, a picture of a man!!

[Designed]

The New Testament, the historical documenent, says that John BAPTISED people in the Jordan, at Aenon, near Salim, because there was MUCH water there. Much water is required because the Greek 'baptizo' means to dip, plunge, immerse, or overwhelm in an element -- in this case water. John did not, so far as we know, anoint (Gr. Cheo) anyone. This is just a money-making scheme.