Talpiot Tomb

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The Talpiot Tomb (or Talpiyot Tomb) is a tomb 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 archaelogists led by Amos Kloner to excavate the tomb. It contained ten ossuaries, six of them with epigraphs. The tomb also yielded various human remains and several carvings.

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 titled 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 heavily disputed by archaeologists and theologians, as well as language and biblical scholars.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Provenance 1.2 Discovery 1.3 Excavation 1.4 First resealing 1.5 Re-opening 1.6 Second resealing 2 Layout 3 Artifacts 3.1 Ossuaries 3.2 Epigraphs 3.3 Human remains 3.4 Symbols 4 Media coverage 4.1 The Lost Tomb of Jesus and The Jesus Family Tomb 5 References 6 External links

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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]

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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.

Three skulls were discovered in the tomb.^[3] The tomb had been previously disturbed, as some bones were scattered.^[2]

[edit] 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.^[4]

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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 again.

[edit] Layout

The tomb is carved from the solid limestone bedrock.^[5] The tomb's antechamber leads to six other smaller rooms called locules.^[6]

[edit] Artifacts

The Talpiot Tomb has yielded several artifacts, including ossuaries and human remains.

[edit] Ossuaries

The ossuaries are made out of limestone.^[5] 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.

[edit] Epigraphs

Six of the ten ossuaries have epigraphs carved into them. Various interperetations of these epigraphs are currently being debated by scholars.

[edit] 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.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Symbols

Some of the walls have carvings on them, including several chevron symbols. A "chevron and circle" pattern is visible above the entrance of the tomb. It is also clearly visible as a depiction of the facade of the Nicanor gate of the Temple of God in Jerusalem, as is visible on era coinage.^[7] The Nicanor gate marked the end of a pilgrimage. The last fifteen steps are still marked by the "Psalms of Ascent," or better, "the Psalms of the ascending ones." The entrance to the tomb also marked the end of a pilgrimage.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] 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.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] The Lost Tomb of Jesus and The Jesus Family Tomb

Main articles: The Lost Tomb of Jesus and The Jesus Family Tomb

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.^[9]

[edit] References

Rollston, Christopher A. "Prosopography and the Talpiyot Yeshua Family Tomb: Pensées of a Palaeographer" SBL-Forum 5 (March 2007).

[edit] External links

• Jesus Family Tomb Believed Found
• MSNBC Newsweek story
• Evangelical book response to the Jesus Family Tomb book and film
• Discovery channel news story
• Official Site for the Lost Tomb of Jesus
• TombOfJesus.org--Arguments against various claims regarding Jesus' burial place from a conservative Christian perspective.
• Family Tomb of Jesus story (Theopedia.com - conservative Christian viewpoint with MP3 resources)
• Ankerberg Theological Research Institute Several articles from a conservative Christian website responding to the Jesus Family Tomb issue.