Jordan battles to regain 'priceless' Christian relics
By Robert Pigott
A group of 70 or so "books", each with between five and 15 lead leaves bound by lead rings, was apparently discovered in a remote arid valley in northern Jordan somewhere between 2005 and 2007.This feature has a few new pictures. Previous news and comments on this often garbled and still very murky story are found on Paleojudaica (and follow the links for more), Jim West's blog (with a link to Bob Cargill, and here and here).
A flash flood had exposed two niches inside the cave, one of them marked with a menorah or candlestick, the ancient Jewish religious symbol.
A Jordanian Bedouin opened these plugs, and what he found inside might constitute extremely rare relics of early Christianity.
I have no idea what to make of this given the current very thin reporting and conflicting information, but will be keeping an interested eye.
Are there any other lead leaf books from the time period they are suggesting? It seems an odd material and the book idea seems later, just my gut reaction. The copper scroll from Qumran seems to be the closest parallel.
ReplyDeleteWould be interested to hear your comment Mark when you know more. I'd assumed it was another of those 'jesus grave found' type stories, and you professional chaps would have known foryears. Fuel for a new generation of phds! Duncan
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