Of course, some archaeologists are more..expansive than others in their 'possibles'...

Edited:

Briefly checking, both Gibson and the other archaeologist from the 'States seem to have doctorates from respectable universities, UCL in the case of Gibson. Not that respectable universities haven't accredited cranks, and (unfortunately) 'Biblical' archaeology seems to bring cranks out of the woodwork...

I think this is almost certainly a case of archaeologists and newsies conspiring, perhaps unintentionally, to produce a puffed-up version of what they've really found. What has been found, from the article, is a cave with Byzantine (ie, post c. AD400) carvings referring to John, in a cave with rock-cut features dating probably to earlier times, including a putative baptismal font with interesting and unique-ish foot-anointing features in the lower steps, etc, etc.

No real evidence that it's specifically the Baptist's cave, but stay out of the way of the pilgriming faithful as they swarm the joint. Hope they've got good crowd control barriers and that they pump the 'donations' received into a worthwhile cause like a good after-dig party for the excavation team...

[ 23 August 2004: Message edited by: aRoused ]