| A SMALL ancient cross, thought to be one of the earliest signs of Christian civilisation in England, is almost certainly a hoax.
The silver cross, bearing the letters chi-rho — the first two letters of Christ’s name in Greek — was discovered in 1990 in a fourth-century grave by the Fosse Way in Shepton Mallet, Somerset.
A copy of the cross had been presented to Lord Carey, who was then Bishop of Bath & Wells. He wore it at his enthronement as Archbishop of Canterbury in 1991.
Last week, the results of tests carried out by Dr Matthew Ponting, from the University of Liverpool, suggested that the silver used to make the cross was of 19th-century origin.
The artefact was found next to one of the skeletons, but there was speculation that a hoaxer may have placed it there to delay a proposed warehouse development on the site by Showerings, the makers of Babycham.
The Revd Elizabeth Smith, Rector of St Peter and St Paul, in Shepton Mallet, said on Monday that the county historian had already told her he was unsure of its authenticity. “But it is still amazing that the Roman settlement was there, because before that we did not know it existed.”
Prebendary John Woolmer, her predecessor at Shepton Mallet, said on Tuesday that the Roman bones had been reburied “in an ecumenical service with the Roman Catholics. There were around 30 skeletons, and I said the Lord’s Prayer in Latin, which I thought they would understand.”
The archaeologist who found the amulet, Quentin Hutchinson, denies taking part in a hoax, and remains convinced that the find is genuine. He says that when he found the cross, embedded in the soil, it had been a “once-in-a-lifetime moment”. But the doubts that were subsequently cast on his integrity, and the suspicion that he had planted the cross, had caused to him to resign from his profession, he told The Times.
“The real problem,” he says, “is that the amulet is unique. Because it doesn’t fit their understanding of the period, they are determined to believe that it cannot be genuine.” He now wishes he had never found it because, he says, “it ruined my life.”
The amulet remains at the county museum in Taunton, which is closed for refurbishment, reopening in 2010. |
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