JOHN THE BAPTIST'S CAVE? Maybe. Some people in the Byzantine period seem to have thought so.

Scholar says he's found John the Baptist's cave

Monday, August 16, 2004 Posted: 2138 GMT (0538 HKT)
Members of an Israeli archeological team enter a cave they believe was used by John the Baptist.

KIBBUTZ TZUBA, Israel (AP) -- Archaeologists said Monday they have excavated a cave where John the Baptist baptized many of his followers -- basing their theory on tens of thousands of shards from small ritual jugs, a stone used for foot cleansing and wall carvings that tell the story of the contemporary of Jesus.

Only few artifacts linked to New Testament figures have ever been found in the Holy Land, and the cave is potentially a major discovery in biblical archaeology.

"John the Baptist, who was just a figure from the Gospels, now comes to life," British archaeologist Shimon Gibson said during an exclusive tour of the cave given to The Associated Press.

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Gibson and his team, including volunteers from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, cleared out the layers of soil, picking up about 250,000 shards from small jugs apparently used in purification rituals.

The explorers laid bare 28 steps leading to the bottom of the cave. On the right, a niche was carved into the wall -- typical of those used in Jewish ritual baths for discarding the clothes before immersion. Near the end of the stairs, the team uncovered an oval stone with a foot-shaped indentation -- about a shoesize 45 (U.S. size 11). Just above, a soapdish-like niche was carved into the stone, apparently for ritual oil that would flow through a small channel onto the believer's right foot.

On the water-covered floor of the cave, stones and boulders had been moved aside by the worshippers and a middle path had been filled with gravel, apparently to protect those wading from stubbing their toes, said Egon Lass, an archaeological consultant at Wheaton College, near Chicago, Illinois, who also worked on the dig.

Crude images had been carved on the walls, near the ceiling, and Gibson said they tell the story of John's life.

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(Via Todd's Thoughts.)