Talpiot-Grab

Datei:The Talpiot Tomb.jpg

An image of the Talpiot Tomb, as it was unearthed in 1980.

The Talpiot Tomb is a tomb discovered in 1980 in the Talpiot neighbourhood five kilometers south of the Old City of Jerusalem, Israel. The tomb contained ten ossuaries when it was excavated.

A controversial documentary film produced by James Cameron and Simcha Jacobovici, The Lost Tomb of Jesus, and a book written by Jacobovici, The Jesus Family Tomb, theorize that the Talpiot Tomb was the burial place of Jesus, as well as several other figures from the New Testament. This claim is disputed by archaeologists and theologians, as well as language and biblical scholars.

Discovery

The tomb was discovered in 1980 by construction workers laying the foundations for an apartment complex. Dynamite blasting and bulldozing had accidently revealed the entranceway to the antechamber of the tomb.

Excavation

The Israel Antiquities Authority initiated an excavation of the site led by archaeologist Amos Kloner. The archaeologists were given three days to excavate and document the tomb.

Archaeologists determine the tomb to be from the Second Temple period, between 538 B.C. and A.D. 70. Typical of the area, the tomb belonged to a wealthy Jewish family. About 900 similar tombs have been unearthed in the same area.

Ossuaries

Inside the tomb were found ten ossuaries, with six bearing epigraphs. The archaeological team determined the ossuaries to be of little note. The ossuaries were put into storage at the Rockefeller Museum. According to Simcha Jacobovici, James Cameron, and James Tabor, one of the unmarked ossuaries later disappeared when it was stored in a courtyard outside the museum. This claim has been criticized by both Joe Zias, former curator of the museum, and Amos Kloner, one of the archeologists who studied the tomb personally.

Human remains

Three skulls were discovered in the tomb. The tomb had been previously disturbed, as some bones were scattered. The tomb may have been multigenerational, with several generations of bones stored in each ossuary, but no record was kept of how many skeletons were in the ossuaries. Following the discovery of the tomb, the bones contained in the ossuaries were buried in unmarked graves in accordance with Orthodox Jewish beliefs.

Media coverage

The BBC first aired a documentary on the Talpiot Tomb in 1996 as part of its Heart of the Matter news magazine. At that time, Amos Kloner, the first archaeologist to examine the site said the claims of a connection to Jesus did not hold up archaeologically, adding "They just want to get money for it." Others were similarly skeptical, though another of the archaeologists who discovered the tomb admitted "I’m willing to accept the possibility."

The tomb was featured on the Today Show on February 26, 2007 where it was mentioned that the ossuaries were sent to New York.Vorlage:Fact

The Lost Tomb of Jesus and The Jesus Family Tomb

Vorlage:Mainarticle A second documentary about the tomb, titled The Lost Tomb of Jesus, has been produced by James Cameron and Simcha Jacobovici, and premiered on The Discovery Channel on March 4, 2007. The documentary is being released in conjunction with Jacobovici's book The Jesus Family Tomb.

With the help of statisticians, archeologists, historians, DNA experts, robot-camera technicians, epigraphers and a forensic expert from New York's Long Island, Jacobovici argued that the bones of Jesus, Mary and Mary Magdalene, along with some of their relatives, were once entombed in this cave. This claim is widely disputed.

External links

• Jesus Family Tomb Believed Found
• MSNBC Newsweek story
• Discovery channel news story
• Official Site for the Lost Tomb of Jesus
• TombOfJesus.org--Analysis of various claims regarding Jesus' burial place
• Family Tomb of Jesus story (Theopedia.com - conservative Christian viewpoint with MP3 resources)