sciencetech-blog

comments

A piece of papyrus used to make a mask worn by a mummy may contain the oldest known copy of a gospel. This image shows another mask destroyed using a new technique, which yielded ancient text

A piece of papyrus used to make a mask worn by a mummy, may contain the oldest known copy of a gospel.

The recycled material bearing part of the Gospel of Mark was written in the first century and predates the next oldest surviving copy of gospel texts by about a century, according to experts.

The text, which is set to be published, was extracted using a technique that allows glue used in the construction of mummy masks to be dissolved, without harming ink on the papyrus.

It does however, destroy the original artefact.

While the death masks of pharaohs may have been made of gold, it was common for lower status ancient Egyptians to be buried with masks constructed from papyrus, paint and glue - a type of papier-mâché.

Because papyrus was expensive, people often reused sheets, which were already written on.

Scientists at Acadia Divinity College in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, unglued the mask to make the find.

Craig Evans, a professor of New Testament Studies, told LiveScience: 'We're recovering ancient documents from the first, second and third centuries' used in mummy masks. 

He said that classical Greek texts including the poetry of Homer, biblical documents, business papers and dated letters have been found so far.

Classical Greek texts including the poetry of Homer, biblical documents, business papers and dated letters have also been recovered so far from masks. Papyrus was expensive and so it was recycled to make masks. This famous ancient Egyptian papyrus, which was not recycled, is from the Book of the Dead

The team was able to date the fragment of gospel by examining documents found in the same mask, which was destroyed because of the destructive nature of the technique.

While some scholars have criticised the practice, Professor Evans said that the mask in question was not museum quality and revealed interesting texts.

The Gospel according to Mark is the second, and shortest, book of the New Testament.

It is thought that Mark wrote his gospel around the mid 60s AD - about 30 years after the events he's describing.

Most scholars regard it as the earliest of the gospels and is the work of an unknown author.

In the gospel, Mark tells of Jesus' ministry - from his baptism to his death and burial and the discovery of the empty tomb.

However there is no birth narrative, nor any post-resurrection appearances.

It portrays Jesus as a hero, an exorcist, healer and miracle worker. 

Jesus keeps his identity as messiah secret, concealing it in parables so that even the disciples fail to understand.

All this is in keeping with prophecy, which foretold the fate of the messiah as 'Suffering Servant'. 

As well as studying the other documents used to make the mask, the experts dated the gospel fragment by examining the handwriting and using carbon dating. 

Some scholars have criticised the practice of destroying masks made of papyrus (an example is shown) in order to recover the texts used to make them, but Professor Evans says the ones he has worked on - and the one in which the fragment of gospel was found - are not of museum quality

They think that it was written before the year 90, but more information cannot be shared until the text is published later this year, along with other papyrus pieces found in mummy masks. 

Despite being small in size, experts claim the Biblical fragment will provide clues as to whether the Gospel of Mark has changed over the centuries. 

Professor Evans is interested in how long the gospel papyrus was used before being transformed into part of a mask, because it could shed light on how biblical texts were copied over time.

He explained: 'We have every reason to believe that the original writings and their earliest copies would have been in circulation for a hundred years in most cases - in some cases much longer, even 200 years.'

This means that a scribe copying a script in the third century, could, for example, work from an original written centuries before.

The fragment of papyrus and other texts obtained from mummy masks will be published later this year.