ANOTHER CANDIDATE for the site where John the Baptist baptized:

Have Jordanian archaeologists found the place Jesus was baptized?
New evidence may have finally pinned down the legendary 'Bethany beyond the Jordan'

By Rami G. Khouri
[Lebanon] Daily Star staff
Friday, May 20, 2005

Have Jordanian archaeologists found the place Jesus was baptized?

AMMAN, Jordan: Substantial new evidence from archaeological excavations may have located where Jesus was baptized. Scholars long identified Jesus' baptism as taking place at the lower reaches of the Jordan River, east of Jericho - prompted by a combination of biblical references, Byzantine and other mediaeval texts, and the uninterrupted traditions of the Greek Orthodox Church, which has custody of the area.

[...]

The excavated main complex at Tell al-Kharrar comprises structures on and around the small hill adjacent the spring at the head of Wadi al-Kharrar. Artifact evidence shows that the site was inhabited from the Late Hellenistic/Herodian and Early Roman periods (2nd century BC to 2nd century AD), through the Late Byzantine and early Islamic periods (5th to 8th centuries AD), and again in late Ottoman centuries.

The strongest evidence for a Chrstian-era settlement here comes from the excavated remains of heavy stone jars, a distinctive feature of local Jewish communities. Father Michele Piccirillo of the Franciscan Archaeological Institute in Jerusalem and Mount Nebo, one of those who rediscovered the site in August 1995, identified these fragments. He believes that, along with remains of large ceramic storage jars, they are clear proof of a settled population, which he identifies as Bethany beyond the Jordan.

[...]

As usually with these things, the archaeology and the information it gives us about ancient Jewish life is more important (because it's definitely real) than any speculation about Jesus or John the Baptist being involved.