File photo. (REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany)
ishtartv.com-
foxnews
A
team of researchers made a surprising find when examining a papyrus-wrapped
mummy mask -- they found what they believe to be the oldest-known copy of a
gospel in existence. The researchers found a fragment of the Gospel of Mark
that dates back to about 90 A.D., Live
Science reports. Previously, the oldest surviving copies of Biblical gospel
texts date back to 101 to 200 A.D.
The
text was written on a papyrus sheet that was later reused for the mummy mask.
While the stereotypical image of ancient mummies involves bejeweled golden
masks, that level of finery was only reserved for the wealthy. The mummy mask
for the average person would have been made out of recycled material like
papyrus, according
to SmithsonianMag.com.
In
order to retrieve the text without damaging it, the research team applied a
method of ungluing the papyrus without obscuring the paper’s ink. About
three-dozen researchers are using this technique to analyze hundreds of texts
from mummy masks.
“We’re
recovering ancient documents from the first, second and third centuries,” Craig
Evans, a professor of New Testament studies at Acadia Divinity College in
Wolfville, Nova Scotia, told Live Science.
Evans
is part of a large team of researchers working on the project, which is based
in Oklahoma City. "The scholars involved are from all over the
world," he told FoxNews.com.
The
academic said that the team has uncovered documents from a range of eras. These
include not just Christian texts, but classical Greek texts like copies of
stories by Homer and even personal letters.
Some
of the personal documents and business papers found within the masks have dates
on them, Evans said. This particular gospel was dated partly by looking at the
other documents found within the same mask.
This
technique is not without controversy. The ancient masks are destroyed in order
to retrieve the documents. However, Evans asserted that “we’re not talking
about the destruction of any museum-quality piece.”
Roberta
Mazza, lecturer in classics and ancient history at the University of
Manchester, wrote a blog post critical of the work of Evans and his research
team. In reference to a speech
Evans made about the gospel text discovery, Mazza wrote that “the audience who
attend their talks are told fantasy stories on the retrieval of papyrus
fragments and their date … apologists’ speeches are not only misinformed, but
can even encourage more people to buy mummy masks on the antiquities market and
dissolve them in Palmolive soap.”
Last
year Mazza found a 1,500-year old piece of papyrus in the university's
John Rylands library that contains some of the earliest documented references
to the Last Supper and ‘manna from heaven.’
For
the researchers examining the mummy mask, the text's discovery marks a
significant achievement. Evans said that the text could offer clues about how
the Gospel of Mark might have changed over time.
A
first volume of the various texts found on the mummies will be published by the
researchers later this year.
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