Talpiot-Grab
The Talpiot Tomb is an ancient burial cave discovered in 1980 in the East Talpiot neighbourhood five kilometers south of the Old City of Jerusalem, Israel. The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) commissioned a team of archaeologists led by Amos Kloner to excavate the tomb. It contained ten stone[[ossuary|ossuaries], including one bearing a Hebrew inscription that reads: "Jesus, son of Joseph."
A controversial 2007 documentary film produced by James Cameron of Hollywood fame and investigative journalist Simcha Jacobovici titled The Lost Tomb of Jesus and a book written by Jacobovici, together with Charles Pellegrino, titled The Jesus Family Tomb theorize that the Talpiot Tomb was the burial place of Jesus of Nazareth and members of his family.
History
The tomb, dating from the fifth century B.C. to the first century A.D. was discovered in 1980 and excavated by an IAA archaelogical team led by Kloner that same year. It was then resealed by the IAA in 1982, and remained closed until 2005, when Jacobovici's crew opened it again. The IAA promptly resealed it.
Provenance
The archaeological team that excavated the tomb in 1980 determined it to be from the Second Temple period, between 538 B.C. and A.D. 70.[1] Typical of the area, a tomb of this type would be assumed to have belonged to a wealthy Jewish family.[1] About 900 similar tombs have been unearthed in the same area.[1]
Discovery
The tomb was discovered in 1980 by construction workers laying the foundations for an apartment complex,[2] the Talpiot Apartments. Dynamite blasting and bulldozing had accidentally revealed the entranceway to the antechamber of the tomb.
Excavation
In 1980, the IAA initiated the excavation of the site led by archaeologist Kloner. The archaeologists were given three days to excavate and document the tomb.[3]
Inside the tomb were found ten ossuaries containing bones, with six of those bearing epigraphs.[1] The archaeological team determined the ossuaries to be of little note. The ossuaries were put into storage at the Rockefeller Museum.
First resealing
Construction of the apartments was completed in 1982. The children of a resident of the apartments, Tova Bracha, got into the tomb and played inside. Bracha notified the authorities, who then resealed the entrance for safety reasons.[4] The children had found a number of discarded Jewish holy texts had recently been placed inside the tomb for burial.
Re-opening
Jacobovici and his film crew opened the tomb again in 2005. Their footage was incorporated into the 2007 documentary The Lost Tomb of Jesus.
Second resealing
Jacobovici and his crew had neglected to obtain permission from the Israeli Antiques Authority to enter the site. An official ordered that the tomb be resealed.
Location
The tomb is located in a courtyard on 273 Dov Gruner Street, reached from a flight of stairs opposite the corner of Olei HaGardom and Avshalom Haviv Streets.[6] After a documentary movie was filmed there, the site was resealed and is not open to the public.
Layout
The tomb is carved from the solid limestone bedrock.[7] The tomb's antechamber leads to six other smaller rooms called locules.
Artifacts
The Talpiot Tomb has yielded several artifacts, including ossuaries, human remains, and the Paleo-Hebrew door eye symbol.
Ossuaries
The ossuaries are made out of limestone.[7] 1 was missing, at the time the Tomb was found 1 ossuary was sold on the market, tests revealed this ossuary "James son of Joseph" had a fake "brother of Jesus" inscribed but the "son of Joseph" was real and scrapings tests on the James ossuary matched the ossuaries found in the Talpiot tomb's scraping tests.
Epigraphs
Six of the ten ossuaries have epigraphs carved into them. Various interpretations of these epigraphs are currently being debated by scholars.
Human remains
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.[2] Following the discovery of the tomb, the bones contained in the ossuaries were buried in unmarked graves in accordance with Orthodox Jewish beliefs. If Jesus did rise from did with in 3 days then his bone box would of been used by another member of the family according to traditons for that time and area.Vorlage:Fact
Symbols
Vorlage:Weasel Some people have thought of the Symbols to be the "Paleo-Hebrew door eye", which is the Paleo-Hebrew symbols for a door and a eye {Circle for a eye and triangle for the door}.Vorlage:Fact The symbol over the entrance is thought to be a "Purity eye" or "Ascension eye" even though it could still be a version of the "Paleo-Hebrew door eye ".Vorlage:Fact Many paintings of humans in Israel before the first century used triangles with a dot inside to represent the eye, especially in the Canaanite art.Vorlage:Fact There is some people who believe that the "Paleo-Hebrew door eye" to be placed around the dead of people who lived doing pure deeds to represent their spirit crossing over into the heavenly world. According to Paleo-Hebrew symbols, a circle or dot inside a triangle would symbolize a eye peering through a door.Vorlage:Fact According to Egyptian symbols the chevron or triangle symbolize purity or ascension.Vorlage:Fact
Media coverage
The BBC first aired a documentary on the Talpiot Tomb in 1996 as part of its Heart of the Matter news magazine.[3] 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."[8]
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 this tomb was the bible's Jesus family tomb. This claim is disputed.[9]
References
Vorlage:Reflist Rollston, Christopher A. "Prosopography and the Talpiyot Yeshua Family Tomb: Pensées of a Palaeographer" SBL-Forum 5 (March 2007).
External links
- Official Site for the Lost Tomb of Jesus
- The Lost Tomb of Jesus book
- James Tabor's replies to all common criticisms and alleged errors
- Discovery channel news story
- Jesus Family Tomb Believed Found
- MSNBC Newsweek story
- Family Tomb of Jesus story (Theopedia.com - conservative Christian viewpoint with MP3 resources)
- ↑ a b c d Milstein Milstein: Jesus' tomb claim slammed by scholars, National Geographic News, 28. Februar 2007. Abgerufen am 14. März 2007
- ↑ a b Peter Nathan: A Critical Look Inside the Jesus Tomb, Vision Media, 28. Februar 2007. Abgerufen am 14. März 2007
- ↑ a b Stuart Laidlaw: Jesus tomb claim sparks furor. Toronto Star, 26. Februar 2007, abgerufen am 28. Februar 2007.
- ↑ Shelly Paz: E. Talpiot residents adjust to possibility they're Jesus's neighbors, Jerusalem Post, 27. Februar 2007. Abgerufen am 14. März 2007
- ↑ http://www.hebrewyeshua.com/articles/yeshua_tomb.html
- ↑ http://www.hebrewyeshua.com/articles/yeshua_tomb.html
- ↑ a b Dion Nissenbaum: 'Lost Tomb' documentary jeered, McClatchy Newspapers, 27. Februar 2007. Abgerufen am 14. März 2007
- ↑ Clergy, scholars assail tomb of Jesus film, The Courier-Journal, 27. Februar 2007
- ↑ http://www.sbl-site.org/Article.aspx?ArticleId=649