Biblical scholars are excited by a collection of ancient texts recently found in a Jordanian cave that they believe may shed new light on early Christianity.
If the books are confirmed as authentic, they will constitute the earliest known Christian writings. The thrilling discovery was only made after a flash flood broke away the back wall of a cave exposing two previously hidden niches.
Early estimates are that the credit-card sized books could date back to the first decades after Jesus’s Crucifixion and Resurrection.
While only fragments of text have been translated so far, the images and symbols on the books indicate they are Christian, and because many of the 70 books are sealed, scholars have surmised that they contain secret writings.
Jordan’s Head of Department of Antiquities, Ziad al-Saad, was quoted by the BBC as saying that the find could be more significant than the Dead Sea Scrolls.
He said: “Maybe it will lead to further interpretation and authenticity checks of the material, but the initial information is very encouraging, and it seems that we are looking at a very important and significant discovery, maybe the most important discovery in the history of archaeology.”