The Bible says John the Baptist baptized Jesus in the waters of the River Jordan, but the precise location has long been disputed.
Now, an archaeologist claims the ‘true place’ was Bethany beyond the Jordan, on the river’s eastern bank in Jordan, about five miles north of the Dead Sea.
In a new study, Waheeb of Jordan’s Hashemite University argued that excavated ruins match early travelers’ descriptions of the baptism site.
Excavations between 1996 and 2002 uncovered churches, baptismal pools, prayer halls and water systems, showing that the area became a center for Christian worship and baptism.
Waheeb connected those structures with pilgrims’ accounts describing churches and a monastery near the place Christians recognized as Jesus’ baptism site.
Crucially, two accounts, from AD 333 and AD 530, placed that site five miles from where the Jordan enters the Dead Sea, corresponding with the excavated area’s location.
He argued that this geographical match also supports identifying the ruins with Bethany beyond the Jordan in John 1:28, rather than Bethabara on the western bank.
The excavations ‘have revealed the true place where Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist on the east bank of the river Jordan,’ Waheeb wrote.
An archaeologist claims the ‘true place’ was Bethany, known as modern-day Al-Eizariya, on the river’s eastern bank in Jordan, about five miles north of the Dead Sea
Excavations uncovered a prayer hall in the town where the archaeologist Jesus was baptized
The Bible refers to two distinct places called Bethany, a distinction central to Waheeb’s argument.
One stood near Jerusalem and was associated with Mary, Martha and Lazarus. The other, Bethany beyond the Jordan, appears in John 1:28 as the place where John the Baptist was baptizing.
The June study, published in the Egyptian Journal of Archaeological and Restoration Studies, traces some of the confusion to Origen, an early Christian scholar who failed to locate the riverside settlement.
Although most manuscripts available to him used the name Bethany, Origen argued that the passage should instead refer to Bethabara, associated with the western bank.
Waheeb argued that archaeological discoveries on the eastern side provide evidence for retaining the Gospel’s original place name rather than relocating the biblical setting.
He also examined the Madaba Mosaic Map, an ancient map of biblical locations made from mosaic tiles, which the study dates to the fifth or sixth century AD.
He argues that its separate labels for places on the Jordan’s eastern and western banks support identifying Bethany beyond the Jordan and Bethabara as two distinct locations.
The excavated area lies near Tell Mar Elyas, also called Elijah’s Hill, in Wadi al-Kharrar, approximately five miles north of the Dead Sea and within sight of Jericho across the river.
The archaeologists also highlighted a small church found in Bethany. Ancient accounts by pilgrims to the site of Jesus' baptism described a church along the river
Springs create an oasis around the site, while thick vegetation extends along the valley toward the Jordan.
Investigations uncovered churches, baptismal pools, prayer halls, mosaics and water systems, with remains spanning the Roman, Byzantine and early Islamic periods.
Waheeb distinguished evidence that the area was occupied during Jesus’ lifetime from the later religious buildings that demonstrated its continued use by Christian communities.
‘These remains indicate that the area was inhabited during the time of John the Baptist and Jesus,’ he wrote.
His identification also draws on descriptions recorded long before modern excavations began.
The Pilgrim of Bordeaux, writing in AD 333, and Theodosius, writing in AD 530, both placed the baptism site five miles from where the Jordan enters the Dead Sea.
Above is an aerial photo of Elijah’s Hill /Tell Mar Elyas with several architectural remains dated to the Roman-Byzantine ages
‘From the site where the Lord was baptized, to the site where the river Jordan pours into the Dead Sea, there are five miles,’ Theodosius wrote, according to the report.
For Waheeb, that recorded distance provides a geographical connection between the pilgrims’ destination and the excavated area.
The religious buildings offer another connection.
In AD 570, the Pilgrim of Piacenza described a large monastery of St John near the baptism location, containing two hostels for pilgrims. Waheeb compares such accounts with the religious structures uncovered in the area.
Changes in the river’s course help explain why some surviving ruins no longer stand beside flowing water.
The study describes how seasonal flooding and shifting channels could leave a church originally built over water isolated on dry ground, or destroy it through erosion.
The Bible says John the Baptist baptized Jesus in the waters of the River Jordan, but the precise location has long been disputed
In 1899, a priest photographed chapel foundations supported by arches near Wadi al-Kharrar and connected them with a church described by an earlier traveler.
Subsequent explorers also recorded surviving arches and religious ruins.
Waheeb argued that combined evidence, including occupation extending back to the first century, later Christian religious structures and geographical descriptions preserved by pilgrims, supports identifying the eastern-bank site as Bethany beyond the Jordan.
‘The results obtained are consistent with the accounts of ancient pilgrims, Madaba map, and Holy Scriptures,’ the study concluded.