Fragments: Gospel of Mark found in Egyptian Face mask 80AD
THE oldest known fragment of a Christian gospel may have been found glued inside an Egyptian mummy’s mask. Experts believe it dates from just 60 years after Christ’s death.
Biblical scholars say the scrap of papyrus they have recovered may contain part of the Gospel of Mark and dates from about 90AD. The words it contains are yet to be published.
The oldest confirmed gospel texts date from the second century.
LiveScience reports the fragment’s discovery comes from a controversial technique which destroys “papier-mache” Egyptian death masks in an effort to unravel the “waste” papyrus sheets and linen used in their construction.
The documents recovered from several such masks are due to be published later this year.
The ancient Egyptian practice of mummification survived well into the Roman era, but few could afford the rich gold and lapis lazuli of the Pharaohs.
Those on a budget who still wanted to preserve their bodies for eternity settled for the best linen they could afford for their wraps, and papyrus-mache death masks.
To keep things cheap, discarded papyrus sheets were recycled for the purpose.
Now, archaeologists are pulling apart privately owned examples of these ancient cut-price funerary adornments to read the writing on the papyrus scraps.
To do so, they developed a technique that removes glue but leaves any traces of writing intact. The form of the mask itself is destroyed.
Humble memorial ... The papyrus/linen mask covering the face of the mummy of a child found in Egypt's western desert in the outskirts of the town of Bawiti, near the Bahariya Oasis. Source: AFP Source: AP
“We’re not talking about the destruction of any museum-quality piece,” Biblical professor Craig Evans of New Testament studies at Acadia Divinity College, Nova Scotia, said — emphasising the poor quality of the original work.
But not everybody agrees the ends justify the means: Some scholars are accusing the team of destroying historical artefacts.
The masks unravelled so far reportedly come from private collections. The papyrus fragments extracted from them — sometimes up to a dozen from a single mask — remain the property of the original owners, the researchers say.
Status symbol ... This mummy mask from the Ptolemaic Period (332-30 BC) is made of plastered, painted and gilt linen and papyrus. Source: Louvre Source: Supplied
GOSPEL TRUTH?
The fragment attributed to the writings of Mark isn’t the only find. The researchers say they have unwrapped hundreds of pieces of papyrus from many philosophical texts along with the writings of the poet Homer.
“We’re recovering ancient documents from the first, second and third centuries. Not just Christian documents, not just biblical documents, but classical Greek texts, business papers, various mundane papers, personal letters,” Professor Evans told LiveScience.
Verification of the age of the claimed Gospel of Mark text could provide needed justification for the destruction of the masks — be they ever so humble.
The claim of its age is based carbon dating and handwriting analysis on it and other scraps of papyrus founds in the same mask. Acadia Divinity College cited nondisclosure agreements for not detailing their reasoning any further.
News that the team had found the gospel fragment first emerged in 2012, but confidentiality agreements clamped down on the reports.
Once the results are published later this year, the document will come under intense academic scrutiny to determine its authenticity.
