• Reply | Retro | Tags

  The Lost Tomb of Jesus-----Jesus Family Tomb Believed Found

  July posted on 10/20/2007
  Feb. 25, 2007 — New scientific evidence, including DNA analysis conducted at one of the world's foremost molecular genetics laboratories, as well as studies by leading scholars, suggests a 2,000-year-old Jerusalem tomb could have once held the remains of Jesus of Nazareth and his family.
  The findings also suggest that Jesus and Mary Magdalene might have produced a son named Judah.
  
  The DNA findings, alongside statistical conclusions made about the artifacts — originally excavated in 1980 — open a potentially significant chapter in Biblical archaeological history.
  
  A documentary presenting the evidence, "The Lost Tomb of Jesus," will premiere on the Discovery Channel on March 4 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. The documentary comes from executive producer James Cameron and director Simcha Jacobovici.
  
  
  
  
  

• Reply | Tags

  Re: The Lost Tomb of Jesus-----Jesus Family Tomb Believed Found
  #1 July posted on 10/20/2007
  
  
  The Lost Tomb of Jesus is a documentary co-produced and first broadcast on the Discovery Channel and Vision TV in Canada on March 4, 2007 covering the discovery of the Talpiot Tomb. It was directed by Canadian documentary and film maker Simcha Jacobovici and produced by Felix Golubev and Ric Esther Bienstock, while James Cameron served as executive producer. The film has been released in conjunction with a book about the same subject, The Jesus Family Tomb, issued in late February 2007 and co-authored by Jacobovici and Charles R. Pellegrino. The documentary and book's claims are currently the subject of controversy within the achaeological and theological fields, as well as among linguistic and biblical scholars.
  
  
  
• Reply | Tags

  Re: The Lost Tomb of Jesus-----Jesus Family Tomb Believed Found
  #2 July posted on 10/20/2007
  
  
  Actual Discovery of the Tomb
  
  The tomb was discovered in 1980 during a housing construction project. Ten ossuaries were found in the cave, including the six that are the subject of Jacobovici's film. However, one of the ten ossuaries went missing years ago, presumably stolen.
  
  "In their movie they are billing it as 'never before reported information,' but it is not new. I published all the details in the Antiqot journal in 1996, and I didn't say it was the tomb of Jesus' family," said Amos Kloner, now professor of archaeology at Israel's Bar-Ilan University and author of the original excavation report for the predecessor of the Israel Antiquities Authority.[1]
  
  "I think it is very unserious work. I do scholarly work…," Kloner said. "[This film] is all nonsense."[
  
  
• Reply | Tags

  Re: The Lost Tomb of Jesus-----Jesus Family Tomb Believed Found
  #3 July posted on 10/20/2007
  
  
  Ossuary inscriptions
  
  The inscription described as Yeshua` bar Yehosef is the most disputed.[2][3][4]Six of the nine remaining ossuaries have inscriptions. The other three ossuaries have no inscriptions. The Lost Tomb of Jesus posits that three of the ossuaries with inscriptions bear the names of figures from the New Testament.[5] The actual meanings of the epigraphs are disputed.[6] The makers of the documentary claim that four leading epigraphers have corroborated their interpretation of the inscriptions.[7] As translated in The Lost Tomb of Jesus and The Jesus Family Tomb, they read as follows:
  
  Yeshua bar Yehosef, Aramaic for "Jesus son of Joseph"
  Maria, written in Aramaic script, but a Latin form of the Hebrew name "Miriam" ("Mary")[8]
  Yose, a diminutive of "Joseph" mentioned (in its Greek form ιωσης "Joses") as the name of one of Jesus's brothers in the New Testament (Mark 6:3)
  Yehuda bar Yeshua, Possibly Aramaic for "Judah son of Jesus"
  Mariamene e Mara. According to the filmmakers this is Greek for "Mary known as the master." The similar name "Mariamne" is found in the Acts of Philip: Francois Bovon, professor of the history of religion at Harvard University has suggested based on his study of that work that Mariamene, or Mariamne, was the actual name of Mary Magdalene[8]
  Matya, Hebrew for 'Matthew'—not claimed to be Matthew the Evangelist but "possibly a husband of one of the women in an unmarked ossuary."[9]. The filmmakers claim that there is evidence that Mary mother of Jesus had many relatives named Matthew[8]
  Four leading epigraphers have corroborated the ossuary inscriptions for The Lost Tomb of Jesus, according to the Discovery Channel.[10] William G. Dever, a retired professor of archaeology at the University of Arizona who has been excavating ancient sites in Israel for 50 years, said that some of the inscriptions on the Talpiot ossuaries are unclear, but that all of the names are common
  
  
• Reply | Tags

  Re: The Lost Tomb of Jesus-----Jesus Family Tomb Believed Found
  #4 July posted on 10/20/2007
  
  
  Connection to the James Ossuary
  Main article: James Ossuary
  The film further claims that the tenth ossuary, which went missing years ago, is the James Ossuary purported to contain the body of James, the brother of Jesus.[12]
  
  In The Jesus Family Tomb, Simcha Jacobovici claims the James Ossuary would have been a part of this tomb, but was removed by artifact dealers, and thus discovered separately.[13] The James Ossuary's authenticity has been called into question, and one of its past owners has been charged with fraud in connection to the artifact.
  
  Ben Witherington III, who worked with Jacobovici on a Discovery Channel documentary on the James Ossuary, denies this connection on two grounds:
  
  "The James ossuary, according to the report of the antiquities dealer that Oded Golan got the ossuary from, said that the ossuary came from Silwan, not Talpiot, and had dirt in it that matched up with the soil in that particular spot in Jerusalem."
  "Furthermore, Eusebius reports that the tomb marker for James's burial was close to where James was martyred near the temple mount, indeed near the famous tombs in the Kidron Valley such as the so-called tomb of Absalom. Talpiot is nowhere near this locale."[14]
  Another consideration was that the measurements of the James Ossuary did not match the measurements listed for the tenth ossuary, which is no longer stored with the rest of the collection. The James Ossuary was listed as being approximately 50 centimeters long by 30 centimeters wide on one end, and 25.5 centimeters on the other end.[15] The tenth ossuary in the Talpiot collection is listed as 60 centimeters long by 26 centimeters by 30 centimeters.[16] Furthermore, Amos Kloner has stated that the tenth ossuary had no inscription. And Joe Zias, former curator of the Rockefeller Museum who received and catalogued the ossuaries, has also refuted this claim on his personal site.[1]
  
  New information has now shown that the discrepancy in the measurements had to do with measuring the base of the ossuary, which is indeed 50 centimeters, rather than the length. The top length of the James ossuary, not the base, which is trapezoid in shape, according to the latest remeasurement carried out by the Israel Antiquities Authority, is 57.5 centimeters. However, this does not in any way prove that the James ossuary is the missing tenth Talpiot ossuary.[17]
  
  
  
• Reply | Tags

  Re: The Lost Tomb of Jesus-----Jesus Family Tomb Believed Found
  #5 July posted on 10/20/2007
  
  
  DNA tests
  
  Analysis of mitochondrial DNA (a tool for tracking matrilineage) performed by Lakehead University on the remains found in the ossuary marked "Jesus son of Joseph" and the one marked "Mariamne," or "Mary" found that the two occupants were not blood relations on their mothers' side. Based on these tests, the makers of the documentary suggest that "Jesus" and "Mariamne" were probably married "because otherwise they would not have been buried together in a family tomb,"[41] but the remains were not dated using radiocarbon to further sustain this supposition, neither was any announced DNA testing done on the others ossuaries to see if any familial relation existed there. Additionally, scholars argue the DNA tests only prove that they didn't have the same mother and they could easily have been cousins, half brother/sister, or any number of possibilities that do not include a matrilineage line.[42]
  
  
  

(c) 2010 Maya Chilam Foundation