A little closer to God and bombs

Rostom Mkhjian's eyes shine like those of a man possessed, which is appropriate at a religious site of this significance. Dr. Mkhjian is the Chief Engineer and Lead Archaeologist at the excavation of the Baptism Site, the bend in the river Jordan where Jesus Christ was dunked by John the Baptist. This, a muddy stumble and gasp at the birth of Christianity. Dr. Mkhjian isn't mad from the 45C + heat or the incessant swarms of flies, though one could understand this. His eyes show excitement befitting the gradual unveiling of a site of antiquity that is surely to become one of the most significant pilgrimage sites of the Christian World. I visited it today with a couple of Canadian interns I dragged from their desks at UNESCO. They needed a day trip and I needed company.

Jordan and some international donors (USAID) have poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into the rehabilitation of the 7km square Baptism site and the upgrade of the infrastructure that leads to it. The Baptism Site runs along the snaky Jordan river that marks the frontier between Israel and Jordan. Getting there isn't easy. It's about 45 minutes by car from Amman, including an ear-popping and often treacherous drop on windy roads down to the lowest place on earth -- the Dead Sea Basin, 350m below sea level. The earth here is a scorched wasteland of pale sand and white sun-bleached rock. The site itself is only recently accessible. For over 30 years it was in the middle of a heavily-mined neutral zone between warring nations. Even today, special permission is required to visit, and two military check-points must be crossed. From the new (and as yet unused) visitors centre, the last leg of the pilgrimage to the site includes navigating a series of narrow paths through a dense thicket of sycamore and olive brush. Barbed fences often line the path's edge, keeping the curious from the oddly beckoning stretches of desert that the mine sweepers have yet to map and clear. During our hike, distant thuds gave us reason to pause. Our guide at first insisted he didn't hear them, then finally snapped: "I don't comment on politics."

After a 30-minute walk along these paths through dense brush, the dig site opened up before us. It was a big hole several storeys down, covered by crude tarps and beams. Teams of Jordanians in head gear carefully picked with shovels at over 1700 years of worship and pilgrimage. Dr. Mkhjian greeted us like family. We learned that 11 Byzantine churches have been discovered in the area, dating as far back as the third century. Also, five baptism pools from Roman times, caves where monks are believed to have lived, and crude dwellings for pilgrims have also been unearthed. On the baptism site before us, Dr. Mkhjian's team had uncovered a 6th century Byzantine church on top of an earlier church (complete with mosiacs with marble from Italy), on top of an even earlier Roman ruin. Apparently, each carefully erected testament of faith was swept away over the years by the surging Jordan river or succumbed to the searing heat. It's hot as Hell there.

For an archaeological site of such significance, the work seems quite low-tech. It reminded me of grainy photos I remember seeing of the 1920s digs at Giza. International scholars have verified the authenticity of the site based on Biblical, anecdotal and social history research. Dr. Mkhjian has good reason to be excited, and the feeling is infectious. Wiping his brow and gesturing with a broad sweep across the dig area, he summed up: "Jesus Christ walked here. We know this for sure now. Right here! How can you get closer to God than this?" I wonder.

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