Current Events -  John The Baptist Cave - Skull Discovery (12 views) Subscribe   
  From:  David (DavidABrown)     8/17/2004 3:25 pm  
To:  ALL   (1 of 2)  
 
  904.1  
 
Source: http://www.100megsfree4.com/farshores/acave.htm

John The Baptist Cave And Skull Discovery

[Original headline: Johns cave believed found along Jordan River]

Amman: A cave unearthed last year under the remains of a fourth century Byzantine church on the 

east bank of the Jordan River was the winter home of the Christian New Testament prophet John the 

Baptist, project director Mohammad Waheeb said yesterday.

But experts are still investigating the identity of a human skull found near the cave to 

determine if it could also belong to John, who the Bible says was the cousin of Jesus Christ, 

Waheeb said.

He was commenting on a report published yesterday by Al Dustour newspaper, which said the skull 

found near the cave in Jordans Wadi Kharrar could be that of St John the Baptist.

The cave and the skull were unearthed last year, Waheeb said. 

Reseach has determined that the cave belonged to St John the Baptist, but experts led by Dr 

Abdullah Al Nabulsi are still examining the skull, Waheeb said.

Until now, testing on the skull has not been completed, so we can only say it belonged to a 

hermit, because the region of Wadi Kharrar was inhabited by many hermit, he said.

The cave carved into the rock was dated to the 1st century AD, Waheeb said.

The skull was found directly next to the cave, buried on its own, he said.

Remains of three other ancient churches were found around the cave, demonstrating the 

sacredness of the site, where Waheeb and the Jordanian ministry of tourism say Jesus Christ was 

baptised.

Over the past few years, Jordanian archaeologists led by Waheeb have uneartherd ancient churches 

and huge baptismal pools in Wadi Kharrar, known in antiquity as Bethany Beyond the Jordan.

It is located just east of the Jordan River and opposite Jericho. The gospel of Saint John the 

Evangelist says Jesus crossed to the east bank of the river to be baptised by John the Baptist.

Further east is located the biblical site known as Machaerus, where John the Baptist is said to 

have been beheaded on the orders of Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee.

Fearful of Johns great influence over the people, Herod had him arrested and imprisoned at 

Machaerus on the Dead Sea when John denounced his adultrous and incestuous marriage with 

Herodias, wife of Herods half brother, Philip.

John was beheaded at the request of Salome, daughter of Herodias, who asked for his head on a 

plate at the instigation of her mother after dancing for the king and being promised a reward.

Israel and the Palestinians claim that Jesus was baptised in a spot on the western bank of the 

river known as Qasr Al Yahud. 


 Story originally published by 
AFP via Bahrain Tribune - December 28 2000

 



David A. Brown
Basic Christian: Forum
www.BasicChristian.org

 
  
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   From:  amym38     8/18/2004 7:01 pm  
To:  David (DavidABrown)    (2 of 2)  
 
  904.2 in reply to 904.1  
 
HI David,

I think I saw something on TV about this last night.  [or the night before.]  what do you think?    

cya later.  :)

ps. as of this time, we are not now going away.  plans changed.   things are still hard.   God is still in control.   :)

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