Posted on 01/23/2015 12:03:21 PM PST by virgil283
"New technology that allows scientists to remove the glue from the masks of mummies without damaging the ink on the paper used to make the mask has yielded an exciting discovery: a piece of papyrus that may contain the oldest known copy of one of the gospels.
The finding, a fragment of the Gospel of Mark, which dates back to the year 90, is one of several fascinating texts that archaeologists are discovering in the masks of mummies.
This first-century gospel fragment was written on a sheet of papyrus that was later reused to create a mask that was worn by a mummy. Although the mummies of Egyptian pharaohs wore masks made of gold, ordinary people had to settle for masks made out of papyrus (or linen), paint and glue. Given how expensive papyrus was, people often had to reuse sheets that already had writing on them....."
(Excerpt) Read more at pjmedia.com ...
Evans told Live Science, Were not talking about the destruction of any museum-quality piece.
The technique is bringing many new texts to light, Evans noted. From a single mask, its not strange to recover a couple dozen or even more new texts, he told Live Science. Were going to end up with many hundreds of papyri when the work is done, if not thousands. Archaeologists are finding not just biblical texts, but fragments of writings by Homer and other Greek writers, as well as documents that capture slices of everyday life in that time period
..... http://metro.co.uk/2015/01/20/does-this-mummy-mask-contain-the-worlds-oldest-gospel-5029707/
A Gospel manuscript that was in circulation well enough to be used in a first century mask is likely to have been written and known by those with a living memory of Jesus.
thanks, I’ve not seen that...
Archaeologists are finding not just biblical texts, but fragments of writings by Homer and other Greek writers, as well as documents that capture slices of everyday life in that time period.Thanks virgil283.
He’s got a guilty expression. Maybe he was ashamed.
The biggest mystery to me is how they got the platypus to sit still while they were writing on it.
He who smelt it dealt it...
It`s called “PAPER MACHE’ masks”.
well duhhhhhhhh
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.