Shrouded bones could be crucifixion witness
Archeologists believe a 2,000-year-old shrouded body found in a tomb near Jerusalem may have been a witness to Christ's crucifixion.
The bones, and a well-preserved clump of hair, were wrapped in the only shroud from Christ's time to have been found in Israel.
They were discovered by a British archaeologist as he showed students around 1st-century tombs in the Hinnom Valley.
The shroud has been carbon dated to the first 50 years of the 1st century AD. DNA tests on the remains indicate the body was that of a male who died of acute tuberculosis.
News of the discovery, made in 2000, has just only been publicised and will be included in a television documentary on Easter Sunday, says the Daily Telegraph.
Dr Shimon Gibson, who made find, says a shiver ran down his back when he realised what he'd uncovered was a unique find.
He said the tomb had been ransacked by robbers who probably stole valuable artefacts but discarded the shroud and the remains wrapped in it.
Dr Gibson, director of the Jerusalem Archaeological Field Unit, said the tomb was in Akeldama, the "field of blood" referred to in St Matthew's Gospel.
The area is believed to have been bought by Judas with the money he received for betraying Jesus, and was where he later hanged himself. Dr Gibson said the area was now used as a rubbish tip and in "a very poor state".
Dr Gibson added: "Given all the evidence, such as the tomb's prestigious location, the fact that the hair was very clean and the shroud made of wool rather than the cheaper linen normally used, it is probable this man was high born or of a priestly family."
So by "witness" they mean he was alive at the time and might have caught the news in the paper?