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.
We have no comment really, but doubt it will ever be conclusively demonstrated it's the cave.
Update: More here. We guess we probably don't need to bring up the most recent exciting Biblical find that turned out to be a fake.
But we did anyway.
Henge-this, Henge-that Relic linked to Seahenge
A simple carved wooden figure could hold the key to an amazing new theory about the true meaning of Norfolk's Seahenge site.
Scientists have carbon-dated the relic, found in the Thames Estuary in 1912, and discovered that it dates back to the same period as the older of Norfolk's two timber circles.
Archaeologists now believe instead of being composed of plain wooden posts, parts of a Bronze Age timber circle found close to the site of Seahenge could have been decorated with carvings resembling native American totem poles.
The revelation comes as an archaeological journal sheds new light on the discoveries at Holme Beach, near Hunstanton.