Group discovers John the Baptist cave

Archaeologists announced yesterday that they have found a cave in which they believe John the Baptist anointed many of his disciples.

Associated Press reports that the focal point of the discovery is a huge cistern with 28 steps leading to an underground pool of water.

The archaeologists showed the news agency wall carvings they said tell the story of the John the Baptist, as well as a stone they believe was used for ceremonial foot washing.

"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 four kilometres from Ein Kerem, the preacher's hometown and now part of Jerusalem.

"Unfortunately, we didn't find any inscriptions," said University of North Carolina religious studies professor James Tabor, who participated in the excavations with his students.

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 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.

The cave is on the property of Kibbutz Tzuba. 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.

SOURCE
Group Discovers John the Baptist Cave (Associated Press/My Way 16/8/04)

LINKS
Kibbutz Tzuba
Dr James D. Tabor (University of North Caroline Religious Studies) | The Jewish Roman World of Jesus
John the Baptist (Catholic Encyclopedia)

17 Aug 2004

Archaeologist links cave find to John the Baptist, Jerusalem, Aug. 16 (CWNews.com)

Jerusalem, Aug. 16 (CWNews.com) - British archaeologist in the Holy Land claims to have found a cave linked to St. John the Baptist, in what could be a very significant discovery for Biblical archaeology.

Shimon Gibson said he discovered the cave cut 24 yards into a rocky hillside in 1999. The cave is about 15 minutes drive outside Jerusalem and about 3 miles from the village of Ein Kerem, the traditional birthplace of John.

Gibson said his evidence of specific links to John comes from drawings made 400 to 500 years later, which portray John in a similar manner to other Byzantine art. One of the drawings show John's severed head. Gibson said that while the cave is 25 miles from the Jordan River, where John performed baptism, he thinks that the cave is linked to the years when John sought solitude "in the wilderness." He also speculated that Jesus may also have spent time in the cave.

He added that he believes the cave had been so well preserved because it was lost around the time that Crusaders arrived in the late 11th century and that other Biblical sites identified by then usually had large churches built over them.

Gibson said that he was sure the cave was not used for other purposes, such as storing water or as a hideout because excavations revealed a large bathing pool as well as objects used for anointing rituals that would have been very different from those used by most Jews of the time period.