Fragment Of Gospel Of Mark Found Behind Papyrus Mummy Mask; 'We Dug Underneath Somebody's Face And There It Was;' Could It Be The Oldest Biblical Writing?

According to scientists from Nova Scotia, about 30 researchers have unearthed an Egyptian mask or mummy made of papyrus containing the oldest Biblical scripture - the gospel of Mark - dating as far as 80 AD. They believe it is the oldest version of the Gospel the world has known.

The papyrus mummy masks came into existence since only the elite could afford mummy asks made of gold. The average Egyptian was wrapped in papyrus and non-Christians used papyrus that had Christian teachings written on them. The pagan belief at the time encouraged people to think Christian writings were "trash."

Craig Evans, Professor of New Testament studies at Acadia Divinity College in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, said what was particularly interesting was a fragment'of the Gospel of Mark was found on a papyrus mummy.

"Where did we find it? We dug underneath somebody's face and there it was," Evans told the Christian Post. "It was from one of these masks that we recovered a fragment of the Gospel of Mark that is dated to the '80s. We could have a first century fragment of Mark for the first time ever."

"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," he added.

"We're not talking about the destruction of any museum-quality piece."

The technique is bringing many new texts to light. "From a single mask, it's not strange to recover a couple dozen or even more" new texts, Live Science reported. "We're going to end up with many hundreds of papyri when the work is done, if not thousands."