AFTER Helena, the devout Christian mother of the Roman emperor Constantine,
made travelling to the Holy Land popular in the 4th century, pilgrims came from
all over Europe. And many of them stayed, joining one of Jerusalem鈥檚
monasteries.
The ancient writers delighted in telling the stories of pilgrims who made the
long journey, and stressed the cosmopolitan nature of the monasteries. 鈥淭hat鈥檚
what is emphasised,鈥� says Jaime Ullinger of Arizona State University in Tempe.
But like many modern scribes, the ancient writers weren鈥檛 going to let the facts
get in the way of a good story.
Ullinger and her colleague Susan Sheridan at the University of Notre Dame in
Indiana examined the remains of the monks from St Stephen鈥檚 monastery.
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Teeth from ethnic groups from different regions have distinctive
characteristics. For instance, Carabelli鈥檚 trait, the presence of a fifth cusp
on certain teeth, is common among Europeans, but rarer among people from the
Middle East.
They looked at 2000 teeth and came to an unexpected conclusion. Carabelli鈥檚
trait was present in only 10 per cent of the teeth. The majority were related to
modern-day local Bedouins.
Ullinger says the weight given to foreigners in the early texts isn鈥檛 a
direct reflection of their numbers. 鈥淭hey probably mention people coming from
far away because it was impressive to make that journey,鈥� she says. 鈥淭hose who
didn鈥檛 travel as far weren鈥檛 as good a story.鈥�
