Mysterious Bones May Belong to John the Baptist

dje101 · #1 Jun 16, '12, 1:53 am

http://news.yahoo.com/mysterious-bon...230719990.html

Quote:

A small handful of bones found in an ancient church in Bulgaria may belong to John the Baptist, the biblical figure said to have baptized Jesus.
There's no way to be sure, of course, as there are no confirmed pieces of John the Baptist to compare to the fragments of bone. But the sarcophagus holding the bones was found near a second box bearing the name of St. John and his feast date (also called a holy day) of June 24. Now, new radiocarbon dating of the collagen in one of the bones pegs its age to the early first century, consistent with the New Testament and Jewish histories of John the Baptist's life.
"We got some dates that are very interesting indeed," study researcher Thomas Higham of the University of Oxford told LiveScience. "They suggest that the human bone is all from the same person, it's from a male, and it has a very high likelihood of an origin in the Near East," or Middle East where John the Baptist would have lived.

aicirt · #2 Jun 16, '12, 3:57 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by dje101

http://news.yahoo.com/mysterious-bon...230719990.html

Source of story?

Have there ever been any oral history of the remains of John the Baptist taken from his homeland to Bulgaria?

There's been many St. Johns many of whom were not canonized by the Church but given that title by the local communities who saw some among them as holy.

DaveBj · #3 Jun 16, '12, 5:36 am

What would be important to know as a debunker is this -- Was the head-bone connected to the neck-bone?

(In the Topkapi Museum in the Asian side of Istanbul I saw what was purported to be John the Baptist's right forearm and hand. It was encased in a gold sleeve and glove, with a little door open on the backside of the palm so the bones were visible. I took out my mental salt-shaker.)

**GEddie** · #4 Jun 16, '12, 6:17 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaveBj

What would be important to know as a debunker is this -- Was the head-bone connected to the neck-bone?

(In the Topkapi Museum in the Asian side of Istanbul I saw what was purported to be John the Baptist's right forearm and hand. It was encased in a gold sleeve and glove, with a little door open on the backside of the palm so the bones were visible. I took out my mental salt-shaker.)

It did not say they had the whole skeleton. I'd think a "handful of bones" would not include the skull.

So you couldn't tell either way, unless the bones found included a severed or crushed neck vertebra.

BTW, precious-metal reliquaries are not at all uncommon in Church history, and really say nothing about the provenance of the human parts within them.

ICXC NIKA

**catharina** · #5 Jun 16, '12, 9:20 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by GEddie

It did not say they had the whole skeleton. I'd think a "handful of bones" would not include the skull.

So you couldn't tell either way, unless the bones found included a severed or crushed neck vertebra.

BTW, precious-metal reliquaries are not at all uncommon in Church history, and really say nothing about the provenance of the human parts within them.

ICXC NIKA

If and when the Vatican accepts this, then I'll accept it too.

Until then? I don't care about it.