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(soft mysterious music)
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Downloaded from
YTS.MX
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In recent years,
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a series of extraordinary finds has been made
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in the Holy Land.
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Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX
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These astonishing discoveries are linked
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to some of the most famous events in the Bible.
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They appear to be new evidence for the burial of Jesus
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and for the legendary Temple of Solomon.
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This is something that biblical scholars
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have been waiting for, have been dreaming of,
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for many years.
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Here is a proof.
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We can touch it, we can smell it, we can go see it.
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This is where we came from.
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It's an earthquake, a revolution.
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Or is there another darker story
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behind these mysterious objects?
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(soft ethereal music)
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Jerusalem, the Holy Land's most important city.
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For centuries it's been the center
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of a flourishing antiquity trade.
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Government Inspectors try to monitor the trade,
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but thousands of artifacts change hands here every day.
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Genuine pieces 2,000 or more years old
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can be bought for a few hundred dollars.
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And many collectors have learned not to ask
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awkward questions about how the dealer came by them.
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And it was here more than 25 years ago,
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in Jerusalem's Antiquity Market,
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that one of the most remarkable artifacts
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in the Holy Land's history first came to light.
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(soft relaxing music)
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It was a tiny object, just four centimeters long,
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badly damaged, and no one knew where it came from.
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But it will be hailed as a unique piece of history.
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It became known as the ivory pomegranate.
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It was thought to be the ornamental tip
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of a priest's ceremonial staff.
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But what amazed the experts was the inscription.
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(Man speaking in Hebrew)
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Holy to the priests of the House of God.
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It suggested that this exquisite little ornament
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was used by priests in the first Temple of Jerusalem,
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which, according to the Bible, was built by King Solomon.
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If the pomegranate was what its inscription claimed,
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it was a revolutionary find.
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Before it came to light there was no independent evidence
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apart from the Bible that Solomon's Temple
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had actually existed.
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3,000 years ago, Jerusalem was a small Iron Age city
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whose ambitious King, the Bible tells us,
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decided to build a house for his God.
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In the fourth year
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of Solomon's reign over Israel,
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the construction of the Temple of the Lord was begun.
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The existence of Solomon's Temple
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is central to traditional Jewish belief.
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The house which King Solomon built
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for the Lord, the length thereof was threescore cubits.
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The breadth thereof, 20 cubits.
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And the height thereof, 30 cubits.
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Over 12 meters high and over 30 meters long,
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the House of God would have dominated the city
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and its people.
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(soft relaxing music continues)
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Since then, Jerusalem has suffered nearly 2,500 years
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of turbulent history.
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Jews, Christians, and Muslims
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all claim a stake in the city that features so large
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in the history of their faiths.
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A vast Muslim shrine, the Dome of the Rock,
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now occupies the site where Solomon's Temple
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is presumed to have stood.
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According to biblical history,
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the temple was destroyed by fire in 586 BC
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by invaders from Babylon.
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(crowd murmuring)
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The Western Wall, where Jewish pilgrims now come to pray,
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is all that's left of a second Temple
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built on the same site as Solomon's Temple
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by King Herod the Great, 500 years later.
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(crowd murmuring)
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In a country where cultural and territorial rights
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are the essence of politics,
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the story of Solomon's Temple
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has special significance for the Jews.
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But there's no trace of the Temple itself
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and archeologists are not allowed to dig
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in such a politically sensitive area.
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(wings fluttering)
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Archeologist Israel Finkelstein has amassed
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thousands of artifacts from that period of history,
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but not a fragment of evidence to back up
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the Bible's account of Solomon's Temple.
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There's no archeological evidence for the simple reason
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that we cannot excavate in the Temple Mount.
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I think also that even if it was possible
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to do something on the Temple Mount,
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there's a big question whether
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we could have discovered anything from the first Temple
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of the biblical times,
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because there was a huge building operation there
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in the time of Herod the Great,
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and there's good reason to think
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that everything was eradicated.
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(soft ethereal music)
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So the pomegranate was an extraordinary find.
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The tiny artifact with a large chip on one side
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was the first physical link to the lost Temple of Solomon.
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(dramatic pulsing music)
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But was the pomegranate authentic?
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In Israel, many genuine antiquities
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find their way onto the market from dubious sources.
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Just beyond the walls of the old city of Jerusalem,
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Amir Ganor, Chief Investigator
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for the Israel Antiquities Authority,
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is checking an underground tomb from the time of Jesus,
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the first century AD.
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(loud scraping)
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(door banging)
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Israel has thousands of ancient historic sites.
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Many are untouched and still contain valuable artifacts
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from biblical times.
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But all too often when archeologists arrive to explore them,
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they find that looters have beaten them to it.
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This is only one of thousands of caves
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that we have in this area.
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And unfortunately, most of them are looted.
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You could see the damage that they done here.
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They took everything, they destroyed this tomb.
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(soft upbeat music)
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The Holy Land's heritage
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is being plundered for cash.
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We assume that 95% of the antiquities
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that now are in the hands of the dealers,
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they are stolen property or they looted.
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(soft upbeat music continues)
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Most of the loot
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is brought to the Jerusalem Market
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where the ivory pomegranate first appeared.
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The man who came across it in the Jerusalem Market
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happened to be one of the world's leading experts
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on ancient inscriptions, Professor Andre Lemaire.
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One of the sellers told me,
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"I know an inscription which belongs to somebody else.
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"And would you be interested to see it?"
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He examined it closely.
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This is a very small object.
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You have to be aware that it is only about
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four centimeters high.
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And the inscription is still smaller, of course.
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And looking at it very carefully,
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I found that from what I could see, everything was okay.
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There was no problem.
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After inspecting
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the engraved Aramaic text,
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Lemaire had no doubt it was genuine.
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He published his report,
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declaring it to be authentic from the eighth century BC,
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the time of Solomon's Temple.
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(dramatic orchestral music)
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The tiny pomegranate would have played a humble part
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in the magnificent Temple.
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It would have been carried on precessions
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through the two great halls,
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whose walls were paneled in sweet smelling cedarwood.
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If the pomegranate belonged to one of the high priests,
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it would have accompanied him
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into the Temple's inner sanctum, the Holy of Holies,
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where winged cherubim guarded the Ark of the Covenant
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and the towering walls were encrusted with gold.
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But however humble its role might've been then,
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it was now the only artifact to survive from the Temple.
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(relaxing flute music)
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The Israel Museum, home to a world renowned collection
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of biblical artifacts, was now very keen to acquire it.
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It was an object of some excitement
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because when first identified,
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it was considered that it might be an object
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directly connected to the first Temple, to Solomon's Temple.
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And we really have very little material
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that comes from that period from Jerusalem
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and that can be directly connected to that moment in history
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and to the physical existence of the Temple.
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But when the museum
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tried to track down the owner, it ran into a wall.
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The pomegranate had already changed hands.
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There wasn't a dealer in Israel
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who seemed to know where it was.
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The word was it had been smuggled out of the country.
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Then several years later in 1987, out of the blue,
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the museum received a mysterious phone call.
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(Man speaking in Hebrew)
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The pomegranate was now available,
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but at a price.
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(Man speaking in Hebrew) million dollar.
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Desperate to get their hands
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on this unique piece of Jewish heritage,
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the museum bartered the price down
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to just over half a million dollars in cash.
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Israel's leading expert was asked to check it out.
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When he too decided it was genuine,
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the cash, provided by an anonymous donor,
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was paid into an anonymous Swiss bank account.
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The pomegranate was returned to Jerusalem
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and there in the Israel Museum,
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along with such priceless national treasures
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as the Dead Sea Scrolls, it was given pride of place,
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an authentic link to King Solomon's Temple.
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(soft relaxing music)
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For nearly 20 years,
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it was regarded as the only physical evidence
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for the Temple.
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Then in uncannily, similar circumstances,
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another extraordinary artifact became headline news.
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In 2002, the Chief Investigator
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for the Israel Antiquities Authority, Amir Ganor,
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was given a special mission,
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to track down a brand new piece of biblical history
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that had gone missing.
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It was a hunt that would take him
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the length and breadth of the country
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and provide a major scoop
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for a young Israeli newspaper reporter.
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The story begins in 2001.
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A professor from the Jerusalem University
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receives a call from a mysterious person
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who refuses to give his real name
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and asks this professor to come to a hotel in Jerusalem.
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He arrives and another professor,
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he receives another call saying,
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"We are changing the location of the meeting.
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"Please take a taxi to a different hotel."
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A person who he has never met before
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arrives with a briefcase.
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The man with the briefcase
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claimed to be acting on behalf of a client.
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He couldn't reveal his client's identity,
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but was sure the professors would be very interested
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by what he had brought to show them.
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(soft mysterious music)
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He opens up the briefcase,
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takes out a gorgeous piece of black stone
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with a ancient writing on it
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and asked the two professors to authenticate the piece.
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The inscription on the shiny black stone
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describe repairs made to the Temple of Solomon
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by a King called Jehoash in the eighth century BC.
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(soft mysterious music continues)
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If it was genuine, it was priceless.
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Like the ivory pomegranate, it appeared to confirm
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that Solomon's Temple had actually existed.
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Better still, it provided unique confirmation
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of events described in the Old Testament.
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The professors wanted to know who the owner was
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and where the object had come from.
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(Man speaking in Hebrew)
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(Man with sunglasses speaking in Hebrew)
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All the stranger would reveal
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was that it had been found near the Temple Mount.
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They wanted to take the stone.
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They wanted to, you know,
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perform a thorough investigation of it
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and to authenticate it or reveal it as a forgery.
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The person refused, of course, to give the stone.
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Said, "That's impossible because of,
269
00:14:16,147 --> 00:14:17,567
"you know, complications."
270
00:14:18,430 --> 00:14:20,040
There was no way the professors
271
00:14:20,040 --> 00:14:21,700
could properly authenticate the tablet
272
00:14:21,700 --> 00:14:24,440
after such a brief examination.
273
00:14:24,440 --> 00:14:25,660
You know, he takes the stone,
274
00:14:25,660 --> 00:14:27,640
he puts it back in his briefcase.
275
00:14:27,640 --> 00:14:28,910
He says, "Thank you very much,"
276
00:14:28,910 --> 00:14:32,590
to the two bewildered professors and leaves them behind
277
00:14:32,590 --> 00:14:33,740
in the Jerusalem lobby.
278
00:14:34,890 --> 00:14:36,365
(dog barking)
279
00:14:36,365 --> 00:14:39,532
(soft relaxing music)
280
00:14:40,620 --> 00:14:42,170
The place where the tablet
281
00:14:42,170 --> 00:14:43,770
had allegedly been found
282
00:14:43,770 --> 00:14:45,900
was at the foot of the Temple Mount,
283
00:14:45,900 --> 00:14:47,900
the heart of Old Jerusalem, where,
284
00:14:47,900 --> 00:14:51,372
according to legend, Solomon's Temple once stood.
285
00:14:51,372 --> 00:14:53,480
(dog barking)
286
00:14:53,480 --> 00:14:55,900
(soft relaxing music continues)
287
00:14:55,900 --> 00:14:59,270
But how could anyone be sure that a blackened stone
288
00:14:59,270 --> 00:15:02,050
allegedly found in a pile of rubble
289
00:15:02,050 --> 00:15:04,833
was a genuine 3,000 year old relic?
290
00:15:08,590 --> 00:15:12,320
The owner, whoever he was, realized this
291
00:15:12,320 --> 00:15:13,490
for shortly afterwards,
292
00:15:13,490 --> 00:15:16,920
other experts were secretly approached by intermediaries
293
00:15:16,920 --> 00:15:19,543
and asked if they could authenticate the tablet.
294
00:15:22,200 --> 00:15:25,460
One of them, Geologist Amnon Rosenfeld,
295
00:15:25,460 --> 00:15:27,040
has spent his working life
296
00:15:27,040 --> 00:15:29,070
studying the rocks around Jerusalem
297
00:15:29,070 --> 00:15:32,333
used by masons and engravers in biblical times.
298
00:15:34,430 --> 00:15:37,990
We were asked to examine something
299
00:15:37,990 --> 00:15:42,990
that should be kept secret called the Jehoash Tablet.
300
00:15:44,330 --> 00:15:48,270
Our starting point was that this is a fake
301
00:15:48,270 --> 00:15:53,053
and we should find some signature of a forgery.
302
00:15:54,930 --> 00:15:56,550
Dr. Rosenfeld and his colleagues
303
00:15:56,550 --> 00:15:59,440
were allowed to examine the stone over several months
304
00:15:59,440 --> 00:16:03,100
in his lab at the Geological Survey of Israel.
305
00:16:03,100 --> 00:16:05,810
We couldn't find anything that lead us
306
00:16:05,810 --> 00:16:09,880
to the conclusion that it's a forgery.
307
00:16:09,880 --> 00:16:13,800
We find many criteria that point out
308
00:16:13,800 --> 00:16:17,513
that it might be an authentic inscription.
309
00:16:19,690 --> 00:16:21,610
If the tablet was genuine,
310
00:16:21,610 --> 00:16:24,250
it was precisely what Jewish archeologists
311
00:16:24,250 --> 00:16:25,833
have been seeking for ages.
312
00:16:26,920 --> 00:16:30,920
I was very excited because this type of inscription
313
00:16:30,920 --> 00:16:33,780
is something that biblical scholars
314
00:16:33,780 --> 00:16:36,720
have been waiting for, have been hoping for,
315
00:16:36,720 --> 00:16:40,219
have been dreaming of, for many years.
316
00:16:40,219 --> 00:16:43,219
(soft upbeat music)
317
00:16:46,100 --> 00:16:47,650
The inscription on the tablet
318
00:16:47,650 --> 00:16:49,310
corroborated the Bible's account
319
00:16:49,310 --> 00:16:53,350
of how King Jehoash decided to refurbish the Temple.
320
00:16:53,350 --> 00:16:55,690
The Book of Kings tells us that repairs
321
00:16:55,690 --> 00:16:57,130
were needed to the building,
322
00:16:57,130 --> 00:17:00,253
which would by then have been over a hundred years old.
323
00:17:00,253 --> 00:17:01,810
From its benefactor.
324
00:17:01,810 --> 00:17:05,690
They in turn shall strengthen the damage in the house,
325
00:17:05,690 --> 00:17:07,683
wherever damage may be found.
326
00:17:09,170 --> 00:17:12,120
And this is how the tablet records those events.
327
00:17:13,010 --> 00:17:16,350
I repaired the construction
328
00:17:16,350 --> 00:17:18,800
and I made the repairs in the Temple
329
00:17:18,800 --> 00:17:21,570
and the walls all around and the side buildings
330
00:17:21,570 --> 00:17:23,950
and the lattice work and the trap doors
331
00:17:23,950 --> 00:17:25,533
and the recesses in the doors.
332
00:17:26,678 --> 00:17:28,120
Then I think that we're speaking about
333
00:17:28,120 --> 00:17:30,463
the same royal act of repairs in the Temple.
334
00:17:32,020 --> 00:17:35,823
And the language is also rather similar.
335
00:17:37,160 --> 00:17:39,280
Meanwhile, analysis of the tablet
336
00:17:39,280 --> 00:17:41,263
by the scientists had revealed more.
337
00:17:42,240 --> 00:17:45,760
They found the surface contained tiny flecks of charcoal,
338
00:17:45,760 --> 00:17:48,553
which proved to be over 2,000 years old.
339
00:17:51,210 --> 00:17:53,900
And they found tiny specks of gold,
340
00:17:53,900 --> 00:17:57,970
just what might be expected if it had survived a fire
341
00:17:57,970 --> 00:18:00,823
when the gold encrusted Temple of Solomon was destroyed.
342
00:18:01,754 --> 00:18:05,087
(soft mysterious music)
343
00:18:07,465 --> 00:18:11,270
(Reporter speaking in Hebrew)
344
00:18:11,270 --> 00:18:12,830
The astonishing revelation
345
00:18:12,830 --> 00:18:16,163
was widely regarded as proof that the tablet was genuine.
346
00:18:17,230 --> 00:18:20,730
Everyone was dumbfounded by this discovery.
347
00:18:20,730 --> 00:18:22,070
I mean, it was like a, you know,
348
00:18:22,070 --> 00:18:26,710
an alien spacecraft landing in the middle of Jerusalem.
349
00:18:26,710 --> 00:18:28,100
Here's a stone with an inscription
350
00:18:28,100 --> 00:18:30,680
that is actually quoted from the Jewish Bible.
351
00:18:30,680 --> 00:18:33,150
And that proves that a Jewish Temple
352
00:18:33,150 --> 00:18:35,300
actually stood in Jerusalem.
353
00:18:35,300 --> 00:18:39,030
Here is a proof that our national heritage is,
354
00:18:39,030 --> 00:18:42,210
can be basically, you know, we can touch it,
355
00:18:42,210 --> 00:18:44,100
we can smell it, we can go see it,
356
00:18:44,100 --> 00:18:45,560
we can take our children.
357
00:18:45,560 --> 00:18:46,910
This is where we came from.
358
00:18:48,280 --> 00:18:49,980
The Israel Antiquities Authority
359
00:18:49,980 --> 00:18:53,620
urgently wanted to know how the owner, whoever he was,
360
00:18:53,620 --> 00:18:55,930
had come by an artifact of such national
361
00:18:55,930 --> 00:18:57,533
and historical significance.
362
00:18:59,410 --> 00:19:02,700
Amir Ganor, the Authorities' Chief Investigator,
363
00:19:02,700 --> 00:19:05,433
pumped his contacts in the market for information.
364
00:19:06,540 --> 00:19:09,673
He suspected it had been illegally looted.
365
00:19:12,150 --> 00:19:15,140
But the word on the street told a different story,
366
00:19:15,140 --> 00:19:18,100
as Journalist, Boaz Gaon soon discovered.
367
00:19:18,100 --> 00:19:19,330
I traveled to Jerusalem
368
00:19:19,330 --> 00:19:21,790
and started to dig and try and find out
369
00:19:21,790 --> 00:19:24,530
who the owner of this new tablet is.
370
00:19:24,530 --> 00:19:28,920
And the people in the antique industry
371
00:19:28,920 --> 00:19:32,993
who, you know, do not like to expose their identity,
372
00:19:34,100 --> 00:19:37,913
they told me straight away that they think it's a hoax.
373
00:19:37,913 --> 00:19:40,900
(soft pulsing music)
374
00:19:40,900 --> 00:19:43,110
Whether it was a hoax or loot
375
00:19:43,110 --> 00:19:46,640
or the genuine article, Amir Ganor was determined
376
00:19:46,640 --> 00:19:49,360
to track down the owner and the tablet itself,
377
00:19:49,360 --> 00:19:52,320
which had now disappeared again.
378
00:19:52,320 --> 00:19:54,070
He had many rumors to follow,
379
00:19:54,070 --> 00:19:56,913
but it would take a long time to get a clear picture.
380
00:19:57,928 --> 00:19:59,678
We spent three months on the road
381
00:20:00,824 --> 00:20:04,323
to try to find this tablet.
382
00:20:06,110 --> 00:20:07,540
The months of detective work
383
00:20:07,540 --> 00:20:09,850
finally led him to Tel Aviv,
384
00:20:09,850 --> 00:20:11,560
Israel's modern commercial capital
385
00:20:15,740 --> 00:20:18,640
and in a fashionable residential quarter,
386
00:20:18,640 --> 00:20:20,093
to the home of a businessman.
387
00:20:21,530 --> 00:20:26,053
One of Israel's leading antiquity collectors, Oded Golan.
388
00:20:29,120 --> 00:20:31,760
Golan has been collecting ancient artifacts
389
00:20:31,760 --> 00:20:32,763
since he was a boy.
390
00:20:34,630 --> 00:20:37,270
Here you are looking now
391
00:20:37,270 --> 00:20:41,130
at the oldest, the most ancient dictionary
392
00:20:41,130 --> 00:20:43,270
ever found in the world.
393
00:20:43,270 --> 00:20:45,980
I found it when I was 10 years old.
394
00:20:45,980 --> 00:20:47,560
He admitted he had been helping
395
00:20:47,560 --> 00:20:49,120
to sell the missing stone tablet,
396
00:20:49,120 --> 00:20:51,940
but denied he had ever been its owner.
397
00:20:51,940 --> 00:20:53,730
He was a dealer, Palestinian dealer,
398
00:20:53,730 --> 00:20:55,993
who had a shop in East Jerusalem.
399
00:20:57,070 --> 00:20:58,363
Abayasa was his nickname.
400
00:20:59,400 --> 00:21:01,830
So I didn't have enough money to buy it.
401
00:21:01,830 --> 00:21:03,960
And he asked me if I can help him to sell it
402
00:21:03,960 --> 00:21:05,720
or to offer it to somebody.
403
00:21:05,720 --> 00:21:08,090
And I had actually only one condition.
404
00:21:08,090 --> 00:21:12,150
It should stay in a museum for the public.
405
00:21:12,150 --> 00:21:13,990
How much was he asking for it?
406
00:21:13,990 --> 00:21:16,790
700,000 of dollars.
407
00:21:18,667 --> 00:21:20,530
But the authorities were not convinced
408
00:21:20,530 --> 00:21:21,980
by the story.
409
00:21:21,980 --> 00:21:24,360
And what made them highly suspicious
410
00:21:24,360 --> 00:21:27,460
was that the same collector, Oded Golan,
411
00:21:27,460 --> 00:21:30,590
had recently been involved in another sensational discovery
412
00:21:30,590 --> 00:21:32,770
that had suddenly appeared.
413
00:21:32,770 --> 00:21:35,937
(soft relaxing music)
414
00:21:43,070 --> 00:21:45,360
In the vast collection of ancient treasures
415
00:21:45,360 --> 00:21:48,490
held by the Israel Antiquities Authority,
416
00:21:48,490 --> 00:21:51,200
there are hundreds of stone boxes,
417
00:21:51,200 --> 00:21:53,673
all dating back to the time of Jesus.
418
00:21:55,000 --> 00:22:00,000
Simply engraved, some bearing a name in Hebrew or Greek.
419
00:22:00,060 --> 00:22:01,863
They had a macabre purpose.
420
00:22:02,870 --> 00:22:04,690
They are ossuaries,
421
00:22:04,690 --> 00:22:07,543
receptacles for storing the bones of the dead.
422
00:22:12,800 --> 00:22:16,240
In 2002, one of these ancient bone boxes
423
00:22:16,240 --> 00:22:18,883
became the center of worldwide media attention.
424
00:22:21,259 --> 00:22:24,617
Ya'akov bar Yosef akhui di Yeshua.
425
00:22:26,350 --> 00:22:30,407
The inscription translates as, "James, son of Joseph,
426
00:22:30,407 --> 00:22:32,047
"brother of Jesus."
427
00:22:33,360 --> 00:22:35,850
For these familiar names from the New Testament
428
00:22:35,850 --> 00:22:39,113
to appear together seemed a remarkable coincidence.
429
00:22:40,120 --> 00:22:41,900
The ancient bone box was hailed
430
00:22:41,900 --> 00:22:44,960
as the final resting place of Saint James,
431
00:22:44,960 --> 00:22:46,863
the brother of Jesus of Nazareth,
432
00:22:47,800 --> 00:22:49,970
and the first archeological evidence
433
00:22:49,970 --> 00:22:51,833
linked to Jesus Himself.
434
00:22:52,740 --> 00:22:54,810
It caused a sensation
435
00:22:54,810 --> 00:22:57,600
and was viewed by nearly 100,000 people
436
00:22:57,600 --> 00:23:00,163
at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto.
437
00:23:01,810 --> 00:23:05,413
Another extraordinary biblical artifact.
438
00:23:07,080 --> 00:23:09,863
And its owner was Oded Golan.
439
00:23:11,600 --> 00:23:14,810
Two dramatic artifacts were discovered
440
00:23:14,810 --> 00:23:18,700
in the space of six months by the same collector.
441
00:23:18,700 --> 00:23:20,630
This was very, very difficult to believe.
442
00:23:20,630 --> 00:23:22,400
I mean, you know, what's next?
443
00:23:22,400 --> 00:23:25,030
The shoes of Muhammad?
444
00:23:25,030 --> 00:23:28,900
I have to admit it, it sounds quite strange.
445
00:23:28,900 --> 00:23:30,630
But if you have the good context,
446
00:23:30,630 --> 00:23:33,370
the good relationship, you'll get the good stuff.
447
00:23:33,370 --> 00:23:35,180
It's very simple.
448
00:23:35,180 --> 00:23:38,200
He claimed he had owned the ossuary for years.
449
00:23:38,200 --> 00:23:42,070
In the mid-70s, I bought several ossuaries,
450
00:23:42,070 --> 00:23:45,963
actually three, and I bought it in East Jerusalem.
451
00:23:47,400 --> 00:23:49,960
So why had it taken him 30 years
452
00:23:49,960 --> 00:23:53,410
to realize the possible significance of the inscription?
453
00:23:53,410 --> 00:23:57,810
The first person who actually gave me the idea
454
00:23:57,810 --> 00:24:01,270
that it could belong to the family of Jesus Christ
455
00:24:01,270 --> 00:24:03,033
was Professor Andre Lemaire.
456
00:24:05,520 --> 00:24:06,890
Back in the 1980s,
457
00:24:06,890 --> 00:24:09,230
Professor Lemaire had been responsible
458
00:24:09,230 --> 00:24:11,423
for authenticating the ivory pomegranate.
459
00:24:12,860 --> 00:24:15,940
20 years later, his reputation as an expert
460
00:24:15,940 --> 00:24:20,040
in ancient inscriptions proved valuable to Oded Golan.
461
00:24:20,040 --> 00:24:21,960
I was amazed with the name,
462
00:24:21,960 --> 00:24:26,960
but mainly with the appellation, brother of Yeshua,
463
00:24:27,810 --> 00:24:30,520
James the brother of Jesus.
464
00:24:30,520 --> 00:24:33,810
For me, there is no problem about the fact
465
00:24:33,810 --> 00:24:36,400
that the inscription is genuine.
466
00:24:36,400 --> 00:24:37,870
Professor Lemaire's opinion
467
00:24:37,870 --> 00:24:39,570
that the inscription was genuine
468
00:24:39,570 --> 00:24:42,380
transformed the Brother of Jesus' Ossuary
469
00:24:42,380 --> 00:24:44,533
into an archeological sensation.
470
00:24:46,100 --> 00:24:47,910
But not every expert was convinced
471
00:24:47,910 --> 00:24:49,410
the inscription was authentic.
472
00:24:50,395 --> 00:24:53,190
I laughed. I couldn't believe it.
473
00:24:53,190 --> 00:24:54,410
You gotta be kidding.
474
00:24:54,410 --> 00:24:55,923
It's not the same script.
475
00:24:56,888 --> 00:24:58,838
It's not even a complete script design.
476
00:25:01,150 --> 00:25:02,640
To Dr. Rochelle Altman,
477
00:25:02,640 --> 00:25:05,270
it seemed that the inscription had been cobbled together
478
00:25:05,270 --> 00:25:07,273
from bits of genuine inscriptions.
479
00:25:08,410 --> 00:25:10,600
She thought the first part of the inscription,
480
00:25:10,600 --> 00:25:14,340
James son of Joseph, was probably authentic,
481
00:25:14,340 --> 00:25:16,780
but that the brother of Jesus
482
00:25:16,780 --> 00:25:19,492
had been added later by another hand.
483
00:25:19,492 --> 00:25:23,303
Ya'akov bar Yosef is original.
484
00:25:25,350 --> 00:25:28,687
This is the ossuary of this man.
485
00:25:29,630 --> 00:25:31,197
All of a sudden here's this,
486
00:25:31,197 --> 00:25:33,780
and this is totally different script,
487
00:25:33,780 --> 00:25:36,880
it's made out of different pieces and pasted together.
488
00:25:36,880 --> 00:25:38,820
And that's exactly what we have here.
489
00:25:38,820 --> 00:25:40,693
This thing's obviously a fake.
490
00:25:42,242 --> 00:25:45,480
(Reporter speaking in Hebrew)
491
00:25:45,480 --> 00:25:47,900
With allegations of fakery flying around,
492
00:25:47,900 --> 00:25:50,450
the authorities decided to crack down.
493
00:25:50,450 --> 00:25:53,240
Police and Antiquities Authority Agents
494
00:25:53,240 --> 00:25:55,470
raided Oded Golan's home.
495
00:25:55,470 --> 00:25:57,820
They found an incriminating photograph
496
00:25:57,820 --> 00:26:01,160
of the collector clutching the missing Jehoash tablet,
497
00:26:01,160 --> 00:26:03,033
which he had always denied owning.
498
00:26:05,560 --> 00:26:09,223
They made him hand it over then confiscated the ossuary too.
499
00:26:10,950 --> 00:26:13,420
The artifacts and their collector
500
00:26:13,420 --> 00:26:16,513
were about to be subjected to intensive scrutiny.
501
00:26:19,770 --> 00:26:24,090
The Israel Antiquities Authority set up a task force
502
00:26:24,090 --> 00:26:27,410
to decide on the authenticity of both objects.
503
00:26:27,410 --> 00:26:29,800
In charge of the scientific investigation
504
00:26:29,800 --> 00:26:32,743
was Professor Yuval Goren of Tel Aviv University.
505
00:26:34,290 --> 00:26:36,783
He began with the stone tablet.
506
00:26:37,790 --> 00:26:40,120
He wanted to establish whether it could have come
507
00:26:40,120 --> 00:26:42,843
from the site of Solomon's Temple on the Temple Mount.
508
00:26:44,890 --> 00:26:48,740
The stone surface should provide valuable clues.
509
00:26:48,740 --> 00:26:51,570
Over time, all objects develop a patina,
510
00:26:51,570 --> 00:26:54,620
a thin crust bonded to their surface.
511
00:26:54,620 --> 00:26:56,520
It's created by chemical reactions
512
00:26:56,520 --> 00:26:58,633
between the object and its environment.
513
00:27:01,250 --> 00:27:03,670
But when Goren examined the patina,
514
00:27:03,670 --> 00:27:05,830
he found that it was different on the front
515
00:27:05,830 --> 00:27:07,133
and the back of the stone.
516
00:27:10,290 --> 00:27:12,550
The patina on the front did indeed appear
517
00:27:12,550 --> 00:27:13,823
to come from Jerusalem,
518
00:27:15,790 --> 00:27:18,160
but instead of being bonded to the stone,
519
00:27:18,160 --> 00:27:19,793
it lifted off quite easily.
520
00:27:21,380 --> 00:27:25,013
The patina is very loosely connected to the stone.
521
00:27:26,070 --> 00:27:28,210
Here you can see how it reacts to
522
00:27:29,290 --> 00:27:33,350
me scraping it with a matchstick.
523
00:27:33,350 --> 00:27:36,150
And you can see that it easily peels off the letters
524
00:27:36,150 --> 00:27:40,110
as opposed, again, to the patina on the backside.
525
00:27:40,110 --> 00:27:42,660
The patina on the back was different
526
00:27:42,660 --> 00:27:45,033
and appeared not to come from Jerusalem at all.
527
00:27:46,033 --> 00:27:48,783
(hammer banging)
528
00:27:50,610 --> 00:27:52,590
He concluded that someone had taken
529
00:27:52,590 --> 00:27:54,920
an old stone from somewhere else
530
00:27:54,920 --> 00:27:57,130
and carved an inscription on the front,
531
00:27:57,130 --> 00:27:59,010
which had then been concealed
532
00:27:59,010 --> 00:28:01,193
under a new artificial patina.
533
00:28:03,870 --> 00:28:06,763
He could even see evidence that the carving was recent.
534
00:28:09,320 --> 00:28:11,433
When the letters are cleared,
535
00:28:12,640 --> 00:28:16,260
the inner part of the letters is exposed.
536
00:28:16,260 --> 00:28:20,100
And as you can see here, it is very freshly cut.
537
00:28:20,100 --> 00:28:22,550
You can see even the little lines,
538
00:28:22,550 --> 00:28:25,820
the little parallel lines, of either the chisel
539
00:28:25,820 --> 00:28:30,820
or even maybe some drill, some electric bit or drill
540
00:28:31,330 --> 00:28:33,480
with which the letters were engraved.
541
00:28:33,480 --> 00:28:36,973
Which is, of course, very unusual for ancient inscriptions.
542
00:28:38,270 --> 00:28:40,260
And what of the ancient charcoal
543
00:28:40,260 --> 00:28:43,723
and traces of gold which had convinced earlier scientists?
544
00:28:44,900 --> 00:28:47,510
Goren concluded they had simply been added
545
00:28:47,510 --> 00:28:51,150
to the artificial patina applied to the front of the stone.
546
00:28:51,150 --> 00:28:53,570
And, therefore, I believe that the inscription
547
00:28:53,570 --> 00:28:55,203
is not genuine.
548
00:28:57,510 --> 00:29:00,603
Then he turned to the Brother of Jesus Ossuary.
549
00:29:01,550 --> 00:29:04,570
The bone box itself appears to be genuine.
550
00:29:04,570 --> 00:29:07,390
The stone was covered by a chalky patina,
551
00:29:07,390 --> 00:29:10,890
just what he'd expect if it had spent many years
552
00:29:10,890 --> 00:29:12,083
in an underground tomb.
553
00:29:13,000 --> 00:29:14,520
But the patina in the grooves
554
00:29:14,520 --> 00:29:16,990
of the inscription was different.
555
00:29:16,990 --> 00:29:18,750
Like the Jehoash tablet,
556
00:29:18,750 --> 00:29:21,073
it was not firmly bonded to the surface.
557
00:29:22,670 --> 00:29:24,230
It looked as if the engraver
558
00:29:24,230 --> 00:29:26,400
had cut through the original patina,
559
00:29:26,400 --> 00:29:28,920
then filled in the grooves with a new material
560
00:29:28,920 --> 00:29:30,163
to make it look ancient.
561
00:29:32,740 --> 00:29:35,140
On June the 18th, 2003,
562
00:29:35,140 --> 00:29:38,400
the Israel Antiquities Authority goes public.
563
00:29:38,400 --> 00:29:41,000
Both objects are declared fake.
564
00:29:41,000 --> 00:29:42,730
Certainly that the patina in the letters
565
00:29:42,730 --> 00:29:45,540
in both items is a modern forgery.
566
00:29:45,540 --> 00:29:48,420
It hits the headlines worldwide.
567
00:29:48,420 --> 00:29:51,510
Experts who authenticated the artifacts
568
00:29:51,510 --> 00:29:53,560
have their names dragged through the mud.
569
00:29:54,860 --> 00:29:57,083
It was manipulated.
570
00:29:57,083 --> 00:30:01,300
It was really very, very politicized.
571
00:30:01,300 --> 00:30:04,423
For me, it's clear it is not a forgery.
572
00:30:04,423 --> 00:30:07,010
(soft mysterious music)
573
00:30:07,010 --> 00:30:09,570
But more damning evidence now comes to light.
574
00:30:09,570 --> 00:30:12,010
When police and authority inspectors
575
00:30:12,010 --> 00:30:14,513
raid Oded Golan's premises again,
576
00:30:16,160 --> 00:30:18,570
they find engraving tools, chemicals,
577
00:30:18,570 --> 00:30:21,753
and soil samples taken from sites all over Israel.
578
00:30:24,890 --> 00:30:27,400
Together with scores of artifacts,
579
00:30:27,400 --> 00:30:30,203
many look freshly minted or half-finished.
580
00:30:32,990 --> 00:30:36,960
They confiscated several tools that they had in my home.
581
00:30:36,960 --> 00:30:40,270
These kind of tools are existed in the hands
582
00:30:40,270 --> 00:30:44,150
of any collector and any dealer in Israel.
583
00:30:44,150 --> 00:30:46,210
But the evidence leads to Golan
584
00:30:46,210 --> 00:30:50,060
being charged on 15 counts of forgery and fraud.
585
00:30:50,060 --> 00:30:53,130
Four other dealers are accused of being accomplices.
586
00:30:53,130 --> 00:30:55,550
I never forged anything in my life.
587
00:30:55,550 --> 00:30:58,050
Of course I shall have to defend myself,
588
00:30:58,050 --> 00:31:01,083
but I have nothing to do with forgeries at all.
589
00:31:04,390 --> 00:31:07,470
Three years on, the prosecution of Oded Golan
590
00:31:07,470 --> 00:31:10,033
on fraud and forgery charges continues.
591
00:31:12,740 --> 00:31:14,440
And there's still no end in sight.
592
00:31:19,080 --> 00:31:21,220
But whoever was responsible,
593
00:31:21,220 --> 00:31:24,433
it seems a sophisticated fraud is beginning to unravel.
594
00:31:26,310 --> 00:31:29,850
The scandal has provoked anxiety about every artifact
595
00:31:29,850 --> 00:31:33,290
supposedly from biblical times that has come from dealers
596
00:31:33,290 --> 00:31:35,020
or sources unknown.
597
00:31:35,020 --> 00:31:36,743
Could they all be forgeries?
598
00:31:38,320 --> 00:31:40,810
Yuval Goren has checked scores of items
599
00:31:40,810 --> 00:31:44,230
that museums and collectors have acquired on the market.
600
00:31:44,230 --> 00:31:47,923
He has concluded that almost all of them are fake.
601
00:31:49,500 --> 00:31:52,570
Some archeologists believe there's only one answer
602
00:31:52,570 --> 00:31:53,640
to the problem.
603
00:31:53,640 --> 00:31:56,120
The antiquity trade should be shut down
604
00:31:56,120 --> 00:31:57,953
and its products should be shunned.
605
00:31:58,800 --> 00:32:01,020
Objects must come from
606
00:32:01,020 --> 00:32:05,670
an archeological excavation done by archeologists.
607
00:32:05,670 --> 00:32:07,120
Then they are genuine,
608
00:32:07,120 --> 00:32:08,960
there's no question about them.
609
00:32:08,960 --> 00:32:09,793
Then they are okay
610
00:32:09,793 --> 00:32:11,950
and you can use them for historical research.
611
00:32:11,950 --> 00:32:14,410
Then whatever comes from the market is forgery
612
00:32:14,410 --> 00:32:15,663
until otherwise proven.
613
00:32:17,660 --> 00:32:20,100
This is a country where the antiquities market
614
00:32:20,100 --> 00:32:22,990
has been thriving ever since Medieval Crusaders
615
00:32:22,990 --> 00:32:24,643
came hunting for holy relics.
616
00:32:26,470 --> 00:32:29,373
Some shops are as old as the antiquities they sell,
617
00:32:30,440 --> 00:32:32,970
but in this city, the buyer should beware
618
00:32:32,970 --> 00:32:35,730
and assume that if material isn't looted,
619
00:32:35,730 --> 00:32:37,123
it's probably fake.
620
00:32:37,980 --> 00:32:40,980
Though not in this shop, of course.
621
00:32:40,980 --> 00:32:43,975
Rami, Where do you get your antiquities from?
622
00:32:43,975 --> 00:32:45,890
(Rami sighing loudly)
623
00:32:45,890 --> 00:32:48,990
Well, probably you should ask my dad about this.
624
00:32:48,990 --> 00:32:51,963
We, I inherited them really from my family.
625
00:32:53,550 --> 00:32:55,580
We used to get them from the people that dig,
626
00:32:55,580 --> 00:32:56,573
but not anymore.
627
00:32:57,720 --> 00:32:58,840
Why not?
628
00:32:58,840 --> 00:33:02,423
Not allowed, against the rules here in Israel.
629
00:33:03,380 --> 00:33:06,313
Not allowed to buy from people that dig.
630
00:33:07,720 --> 00:33:12,000
Whether an artifact is genuine or looted or fake,
631
00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:14,583
there are ways of enhancing its market value.
632
00:33:15,550 --> 00:33:20,200
The collectors always want special things.
633
00:33:20,200 --> 00:33:21,433
This is authentic jar.
634
00:33:22,430 --> 00:33:25,060
This is from the Iron Age,
635
00:33:25,060 --> 00:33:27,870
from the seventh century BC.
636
00:33:27,870 --> 00:33:30,730
If it's ordinary jar without any decoration
637
00:33:30,730 --> 00:33:34,340
or inscription, it would cost something between
638
00:33:34,340 --> 00:33:36,250
700, 2,000 dollar.
639
00:33:36,250 --> 00:33:41,250
But if someone add some inscription here in ancient Hebrew,
640
00:33:41,580 --> 00:33:44,183
it will be cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
641
00:33:45,780 --> 00:33:47,830
Adding an inscription is less work
642
00:33:47,830 --> 00:33:51,253
and less expensive than faking a whole artifact.
643
00:33:52,350 --> 00:33:55,550
And as investigators have uncovered more fakes,
644
00:33:55,550 --> 00:33:57,940
they feel a pattern is emerging
645
00:33:57,940 --> 00:34:01,540
of ancient objects being embellished with inscriptions
646
00:34:01,540 --> 00:34:04,667
to enhance their value and historical significance.
647
00:34:04,667 --> 00:34:06,030
(chisel banging)
648
00:34:06,030 --> 00:34:07,930
They even have a good idea how forgers
649
00:34:07,930 --> 00:34:12,330
are producing inscriptions good enough to fool the experts,
650
00:34:12,330 --> 00:34:14,410
using a standard reference book
651
00:34:14,410 --> 00:34:17,243
published by the Israel Antiquities Authority.
652
00:34:19,440 --> 00:34:22,660
Details of inscriptions from genuine artifacts
653
00:34:22,660 --> 00:34:25,700
are copied precisely then reassembled
654
00:34:25,700 --> 00:34:27,963
as the template for a new engraving.
655
00:34:29,040 --> 00:34:33,038
This is Ya'akov, James in ancient Hebrew.
656
00:34:33,038 --> 00:34:36,430
(air whooshing)
657
00:34:36,430 --> 00:34:38,786
Next, son of Yosef.
658
00:34:38,786 --> 00:34:42,220
(air whooshing)
659
00:34:42,220 --> 00:34:44,840
To create brother of Jesus,
660
00:34:44,840 --> 00:34:47,810
letters are taken from several ancient sources
661
00:34:47,810 --> 00:34:49,113
to complete the template.
662
00:34:50,290 --> 00:34:54,870
James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus
663
00:34:54,870 --> 00:34:57,757
and it looks completely authentic.
664
00:34:57,757 --> 00:35:01,260
(chisel banging)
665
00:35:01,260 --> 00:35:05,220
Any artifact of unknown origin with a compelling inscription
666
00:35:05,220 --> 00:35:06,493
has now become suspect.
667
00:35:09,950 --> 00:35:13,340
So it was inevitable that attention would return
668
00:35:13,340 --> 00:35:17,010
to that priceless object in the Israel Museum,
669
00:35:17,010 --> 00:35:18,383
the ivory pomegranate.
670
00:35:21,440 --> 00:35:24,200
The pomegranate was now the only item believed
671
00:35:24,200 --> 00:35:26,650
to have survived from Solomon's legendary Temple.
672
00:35:30,050 --> 00:35:32,410
Over 25 years had passed
673
00:35:32,410 --> 00:35:35,080
since the pomegranate had first been authenticated
674
00:35:35,080 --> 00:35:38,300
by one of the world's experts on ancient inscriptions,
675
00:35:38,300 --> 00:35:40,500
Professor Andre Lemaire.
676
00:35:40,500 --> 00:35:42,850
Since then experts have discovered
677
00:35:42,850 --> 00:35:46,310
that it wasn't actually made of elephant ivory,
678
00:35:46,310 --> 00:35:49,416
but came from a quite different beast.
679
00:35:49,416 --> 00:35:52,460
(soft relaxing music)
680
00:35:52,460 --> 00:35:54,820
It is a little pomegranate
681
00:35:54,820 --> 00:35:56,873
made of a tooth of a hippopotamus.
682
00:35:58,294 --> 00:35:59,800
But the big question was,
683
00:35:59,800 --> 00:36:02,963
did the pomegranate really come from Solomon's Temple?
684
00:36:04,840 --> 00:36:06,350
When professor Goren examined
685
00:36:06,350 --> 00:36:07,590
the surface of the pomegranate,
686
00:36:07,590 --> 00:36:11,890
he saw little to suggest that it was not a genuine artifact.
687
00:36:11,890 --> 00:36:14,730
You can see that it is old.
688
00:36:14,730 --> 00:36:15,833
It is worn.
689
00:36:16,830 --> 00:36:18,830
There were signs of a few repairs,
690
00:36:18,830 --> 00:36:21,480
traces of what looks like glue.
691
00:36:21,480 --> 00:36:23,143
But the patina looked ancient.
692
00:36:25,200 --> 00:36:28,602
Then he turned his attention to the inscription.
693
00:36:28,602 --> 00:36:32,590
(speaking in Hebrew), which means
694
00:36:32,590 --> 00:36:35,390
holy to the priests of the House of God.
695
00:36:35,390 --> 00:36:36,810
And this is why this pomegranate
696
00:36:36,810 --> 00:36:39,983
was considered to be from the Solomonic Temple.
697
00:36:40,879 --> 00:36:42,670
But the pomegranate was badly damaged
698
00:36:42,670 --> 00:36:44,470
sometime in its history.
699
00:36:44,470 --> 00:36:46,630
You can see that the break that took off
700
00:36:46,630 --> 00:36:49,520
about 1/3 of the body of the pomegranate.
701
00:36:49,520 --> 00:36:51,910
Most of the inscription is intact,
702
00:36:51,910 --> 00:36:53,513
but a large chunk is missing.
703
00:36:55,540 --> 00:36:59,100
The letters that are supposed to spell out House of God
704
00:36:59,100 --> 00:37:01,563
are just fragments on the border of the break.
705
00:37:02,720 --> 00:37:05,033
It was these that caught Goren's attention.
706
00:37:06,080 --> 00:37:08,900
He noticed that the grooves cut by the engraver
707
00:37:08,900 --> 00:37:12,510
appeared to stop short of the break, which was odd.
708
00:37:12,510 --> 00:37:15,260
He would have expected them to be sliced cleanly
709
00:37:15,260 --> 00:37:17,280
when the pomegranate was damaged.
710
00:37:17,280 --> 00:37:20,950
The lines are ending before the edge of the break,
711
00:37:20,950 --> 00:37:23,540
which means that whoever engraved it was very careful
712
00:37:23,540 --> 00:37:28,403
not to make other breaks into the old break.
713
00:37:29,400 --> 00:37:30,500
It looked to Goren
714
00:37:30,500 --> 00:37:32,550
as if the inscription had been engraved
715
00:37:32,550 --> 00:37:34,833
after the pomegranate had been damaged.
716
00:37:35,980 --> 00:37:38,890
It is clear when you look at it through the microscope
717
00:37:38,890 --> 00:37:41,040
that the inscription was engraved in it,
718
00:37:41,040 --> 00:37:43,083
on it, when it was already broken.
719
00:37:43,940 --> 00:37:47,080
So someone must have added the inscription
720
00:37:47,080 --> 00:37:49,430
to boost the pomegranate's value.
721
00:37:49,430 --> 00:37:51,440
It is probably a fake.
722
00:37:51,440 --> 00:37:52,903
It's probably a forgery.
723
00:37:54,050 --> 00:37:56,160
But Goren's analysis makes no sense
724
00:37:56,160 --> 00:37:58,713
to the pomegranate's champion, Professor Lemaire.
725
00:37:59,926 --> 00:38:02,720
He make a mistake because it is not his field.
726
00:38:02,720 --> 00:38:06,500
Although the pomegranate is authentic, it is ancient,
727
00:38:06,500 --> 00:38:11,400
the inscription was most likely engraved in modern times.
728
00:38:11,400 --> 00:38:15,760
Yuval Goren is working out of his field.
729
00:38:15,760 --> 00:38:17,290
And in this case,
730
00:38:17,290 --> 00:38:20,460
when even if it is a professor at university,
731
00:38:20,460 --> 00:38:23,280
if somebody is working out of his field,
732
00:38:23,280 --> 00:38:27,830
out of his specialty, he is not especially to be trusted.
733
00:38:27,830 --> 00:38:28,663
But the man
734
00:38:28,663 --> 00:38:30,500
who first authenticated the pomegranate
735
00:38:30,500 --> 00:38:33,203
now finds himself in a very small minority.
736
00:38:34,080 --> 00:38:36,860
The pomegranate has been declared a fake
737
00:38:36,860 --> 00:38:39,160
and removed from display in the Israel Museum.
738
00:38:43,336 --> 00:38:45,162
(horn blowing)
739
00:38:45,162 --> 00:38:48,910
But there's no let up in the sensational claims.
740
00:38:48,910 --> 00:38:51,980
Jerusalem can prove a nightmare for archeologists
741
00:38:51,980 --> 00:38:54,310
with major monuments of three religions
742
00:38:54,310 --> 00:38:55,913
crowding on top of each other.
743
00:38:58,780 --> 00:39:01,810
And in a quiet residential quarter called Talpiot,
744
00:39:01,810 --> 00:39:03,660
apartment blocks overlook one of the most
745
00:39:03,660 --> 00:39:06,183
contentious archeological sites in the world.
746
00:39:08,160 --> 00:39:11,910
In a tiny rose garden, a large concrete slab
747
00:39:11,910 --> 00:39:15,013
conceals the entrance to a 2,000 year old tomb.
748
00:39:17,450 --> 00:39:20,060
The crudely built structure offers no clue
749
00:39:20,060 --> 00:39:22,510
to the potential importance of what lies beneath.
750
00:39:24,280 --> 00:39:26,040
Cut into the rocky hillside,
751
00:39:26,040 --> 00:39:29,500
the tomb was discovered accidentally in 1980
752
00:39:29,500 --> 00:39:32,000
when the whole area was still a construction site.
753
00:39:34,500 --> 00:39:37,130
Before it could disappear under the new buildings,
754
00:39:37,130 --> 00:39:38,810
a small team of archeologists
755
00:39:38,810 --> 00:39:41,980
was allowed to examine the tomb and its contents.
756
00:39:41,980 --> 00:39:45,453
Among them was Shimon Gibson, then 21 years old.
757
00:39:46,360 --> 00:39:49,583
His job was to map the inside of the tomb.
758
00:39:49,583 --> 00:39:51,070
(insects buzzing)
(birds chirping)
759
00:39:51,070 --> 00:39:55,050
Well under this cement slab is a shaft which descends
760
00:39:55,050 --> 00:39:58,890
for a couple of meters down into the ground.
761
00:39:58,890 --> 00:40:01,190
At the bottom of the shaft is an opening,
762
00:40:01,190 --> 00:40:04,740
which is situated here, which leads into a barrel chamber,
763
00:40:04,740 --> 00:40:06,240
which is still intact.
764
00:40:06,240 --> 00:40:07,180
It's really nice.
765
00:40:07,180 --> 00:40:10,410
After 27 years, the tomb is still here.
766
00:40:10,410 --> 00:40:14,870
The tomb itself was full of soil at least up to knee level
767
00:40:14,870 --> 00:40:16,690
at the time of excavation,
768
00:40:16,690 --> 00:40:19,670
which meant that the door had been opened in antiquity
769
00:40:19,670 --> 00:40:23,970
and that soil had flowed in to the cave itself.
770
00:40:23,970 --> 00:40:26,063
So this wasn't an intact tomb.
771
00:40:27,410 --> 00:40:30,290
Questions about when it was broken into
772
00:40:30,290 --> 00:40:32,360
have recently ignited speculation
773
00:40:32,360 --> 00:40:35,370
about what the tomb originally contained.
774
00:40:35,370 --> 00:40:36,860
Since they were discovered,
775
00:40:36,860 --> 00:40:39,310
the ossuaries from the tomb have been kept
776
00:40:39,310 --> 00:40:41,790
at the Antiquities Authority store.
777
00:40:41,790 --> 00:40:44,933
And it was there 27 years later in 2007,
778
00:40:44,933 --> 00:40:48,120
that the names inscribed on the ossuaries
779
00:40:48,120 --> 00:40:50,260
provoked intense media speculation
780
00:40:50,260 --> 00:40:51,860
about the occupants of the tomb.
781
00:40:52,750 --> 00:40:54,250
Most of the names are well known
782
00:40:54,250 --> 00:40:56,920
from the New Testament of the Bible.
783
00:40:56,920 --> 00:41:01,920
Mariame, a form of Mary, Mary Magdalene perhaps.
784
00:41:02,030 --> 00:41:04,303
Jose, a short form of Joseph.
785
00:41:05,230 --> 00:41:07,590
Maria, another Mary.
786
00:41:07,590 --> 00:41:12,400
And then most astonishing of all, Yeshua bar Yosef,
787
00:41:12,400 --> 00:41:14,663
Jesus son of Joseph.
788
00:41:15,520 --> 00:41:19,263
Could this be the resting place of Jesus Himself?
789
00:41:21,550 --> 00:41:23,787
The suggestion that this might be the tomb
790
00:41:23,787 --> 00:41:27,793
of the family of Jesus received worldwide publicity.
791
00:41:30,150 --> 00:41:33,020
Now the man involved in the original excavation
792
00:41:33,020 --> 00:41:36,160
wants to examine the tomb again.
793
00:41:36,160 --> 00:41:37,970
Anything which is sealed up
794
00:41:37,970 --> 00:41:40,950
creates a kind of sort of atmosphere of conspiracy.
795
00:41:40,950 --> 00:41:42,660
So I think opening up the slab
796
00:41:42,660 --> 00:41:44,980
and allowing cameras to go down
797
00:41:44,980 --> 00:41:47,703
and to have a look at the tomb would be a good thing.
798
00:41:49,220 --> 00:41:52,310
Permission has been given to examine the tomb,
799
00:41:52,310 --> 00:41:54,370
but it soon becomes clear that some residents
800
00:41:54,370 --> 00:41:57,436
don't want an excavation in their backyard.
801
00:41:57,436 --> 00:42:01,103
(crowd murmuring in Hebrew)
802
00:42:05,242 --> 00:42:09,250
An area which is there's a lot of emotion.
803
00:42:09,250 --> 00:42:10,650
It highlights the problems
804
00:42:10,650 --> 00:42:13,050
that can arise for archeologists in a country
805
00:42:13,050 --> 00:42:15,534
where religious passions run high.
806
00:42:15,534 --> 00:42:16,530
He's going to call the police
807
00:42:16,530 --> 00:42:18,757
that he doesn't want us excavating.
808
00:42:21,010 --> 00:42:22,697
And he's quite angry.
809
00:42:22,697 --> 00:42:24,940
(crowd murmuring in Hebrew)
810
00:42:24,940 --> 00:42:26,120
Pressing on now
811
00:42:26,120 --> 00:42:28,520
could provoke a worst disturbance,
812
00:42:28,520 --> 00:42:30,793
so the Talpiot tomb remains sealed.
813
00:42:32,400 --> 00:42:35,830
But from the map Gibson drew of the tomb when it was opened,
814
00:42:35,830 --> 00:42:37,400
we can still get a good idea
815
00:42:37,400 --> 00:42:39,750
of how the remains of the family were laid out.
816
00:42:40,586 --> 00:42:43,030
(soft mysterious music)
817
00:42:43,030 --> 00:42:45,763
There were bones and skulls lying on the floor.
818
00:42:46,700 --> 00:42:49,290
The ossuaries lay in small chambers
819
00:42:49,290 --> 00:42:51,430
cut into the walls of the tomb.
820
00:42:51,430 --> 00:42:54,760
The one bearing the name Jesus son of Joseph
821
00:42:54,760 --> 00:42:56,320
was one of the smallest,
822
00:42:56,320 --> 00:42:58,233
tucked in the back of one chamber.
823
00:43:02,490 --> 00:43:05,120
Most archeologists are very skeptical
824
00:43:05,120 --> 00:43:07,593
that this could have been Jesus of Nazareth.
825
00:43:08,510 --> 00:43:10,217
One thing I can tell you for certain,
826
00:43:10,217 --> 00:43:14,220
and that is that there were no remains of a crucified man
827
00:43:14,220 --> 00:43:15,367
in this tomb.
828
00:43:15,367 --> 00:43:17,270
And the coincidence of the names,
829
00:43:17,270 --> 00:43:20,270
however striking, fails to impress specialists
830
00:43:20,270 --> 00:43:22,480
in this period of history.
831
00:43:22,480 --> 00:43:24,690
These names are extremely common
832
00:43:24,690 --> 00:43:28,580
among the local Jewish population in the time of Jesus.
833
00:43:28,580 --> 00:43:31,240
It's also problematic because everything that we know
834
00:43:31,240 --> 00:43:32,690
about Jesus and His family
835
00:43:32,690 --> 00:43:35,510
indicates that they were a relatively poor family
836
00:43:35,510 --> 00:43:38,960
who could not have afforded a rock-cut tomb.
837
00:43:38,960 --> 00:43:41,250
If they had owned a rock-cut tomb,
838
00:43:41,250 --> 00:43:44,610
presumably it would have been in Nazareth, their hometown,
839
00:43:44,610 --> 00:43:46,230
not in Jerusalem.
840
00:43:46,230 --> 00:43:47,730
We have good evidence for this
841
00:43:47,730 --> 00:43:51,487
from other wealthy families around the country.
842
00:43:51,487 --> 00:43:54,850
And while the historical controversy rages,
843
00:43:54,850 --> 00:43:57,610
some scientists think it would be a good idea
844
00:43:57,610 --> 00:43:59,240
to re-examine the ossuaries
845
00:43:59,240 --> 00:44:01,083
that came from the disturbed tomb.
846
00:44:02,070 --> 00:44:04,710
American researchers now want to subject them
847
00:44:04,710 --> 00:44:06,840
to forensic-style scrutiny,
848
00:44:06,840 --> 00:44:09,050
especially the most controversial,
849
00:44:09,050 --> 00:44:11,123
Jesus son of Joseph inscription.
850
00:44:11,123 --> 00:44:12,130
Because it looks like
851
00:44:12,130 --> 00:44:13,333
these scratches are new.
852
00:44:14,540 --> 00:44:16,040
They wonder whether dirt
853
00:44:16,040 --> 00:44:18,480
that's been impacted in the inscription
854
00:44:18,480 --> 00:44:21,460
could be concealing signs of recent tampering.
855
00:44:21,460 --> 00:44:25,640
We're actually trying to remove some of the soil
856
00:44:25,640 --> 00:44:28,700
that's been impacted in the inscriptions and scratches.
857
00:44:28,700 --> 00:44:31,570
Not only that, try to remove the soil safely
858
00:44:31,570 --> 00:44:34,180
as not to destroy any patina.
859
00:44:34,180 --> 00:44:35,670
The grooves of the inscription
860
00:44:35,670 --> 00:44:38,940
contain traces of mud, which have to be removed
861
00:44:38,940 --> 00:44:41,403
if they are to examine the inscription in detail.
862
00:44:42,490 --> 00:44:44,800
It seems that Jesus son of Joseph
863
00:44:44,800 --> 00:44:47,940
may not be the only name engraved on the box.
864
00:44:47,940 --> 00:44:49,800
It appears that the name Yeshua,
865
00:44:49,800 --> 00:44:51,150
if this is the actual name,
866
00:44:51,150 --> 00:44:53,290
because it's a very difficult name to read,
867
00:44:53,290 --> 00:44:56,290
is not the original name on this ossuary.
868
00:44:56,290 --> 00:45:00,730
Yeshua appears to be super-inscribed over an earlier name
869
00:45:00,730 --> 00:45:02,630
that appeared before that.
870
00:45:02,630 --> 00:45:04,950
It could be something like (speaking in Hebrew),
871
00:45:04,950 --> 00:45:07,290
or a number of possibilities,
872
00:45:07,290 --> 00:45:10,593
but Yeshua was not the first one in the ossuary.
873
00:45:11,950 --> 00:45:16,130
The name, Yeshua bar Yosef, Jesus son of Joseph,
874
00:45:16,130 --> 00:45:18,400
has been inscribed very crudely
875
00:45:18,400 --> 00:45:21,900
and incorporates some of the underlying inscription.
876
00:45:21,900 --> 00:45:25,070
Could this have an innocent explanation?
877
00:45:25,070 --> 00:45:27,200
Or has Jesus being carved later
878
00:45:27,200 --> 00:45:31,030
as a deliberate deception by adding a few extra strokes,
879
00:45:31,030 --> 00:45:34,119
then using mud to make them look older?
880
00:45:34,119 --> 00:45:35,780
It's coming. Patina is coming away there.
881
00:45:35,780 --> 00:45:37,960
Maybe you're right about the mud here
882
00:45:37,960 --> 00:45:41,290
that it was put as a disguise, you know?
883
00:45:41,290 --> 00:45:43,370
To cover up things, yeah.
884
00:45:43,370 --> 00:45:46,280
The existence of this hardened mud inside,
885
00:45:46,280 --> 00:45:48,380
we have to look for some explanation known for it,
886
00:45:48,380 --> 00:45:50,910
'cause we don't really have a good explanation yet.
887
00:45:50,910 --> 00:45:52,880
But that's what we're in the process of doing
888
00:45:52,880 --> 00:45:56,090
is trying to figure out if this hardened mud
889
00:45:56,090 --> 00:45:59,750
was something that somebody pressed into the inscription
890
00:45:59,750 --> 00:46:02,260
in order to make it look better or whatever.
891
00:46:02,260 --> 00:46:04,110
It's not very clear yet.
892
00:46:04,110 --> 00:46:04,970
So now you're starting
893
00:46:04,970 --> 00:46:07,890
to get some of the patina away.
894
00:46:07,890 --> 00:46:10,590
If we're able to remove the mud successfully
895
00:46:10,590 --> 00:46:13,150
without damaging the inscription itself,
896
00:46:13,150 --> 00:46:16,670
this would hope to at least dispel any ideas
897
00:46:16,670 --> 00:46:19,590
that this has any problems in terms
898
00:46:19,590 --> 00:46:22,153
of some kind of tampering.
899
00:46:22,153 --> 00:46:24,824
Take some of that there.
900
00:46:24,824 --> 00:46:29,067
An area that we know has been perfected
901
00:46:29,067 --> 00:46:30,843
by tape and the mud.
902
00:46:33,100 --> 00:46:34,110
But these questions
903
00:46:34,110 --> 00:46:36,333
are not likely to be answered just yet.
904
00:46:37,230 --> 00:46:38,660
Worried that removing the mud
905
00:46:38,660 --> 00:46:41,720
might risk harming the ossuary's delicate patina,
906
00:46:41,720 --> 00:46:45,130
the Israel Antiquities Authority has now called a halt
907
00:46:45,130 --> 00:46:46,553
to further investigation.
908
00:46:48,530 --> 00:46:51,770
But whatever the eventual conclusions about tampering,
909
00:46:51,770 --> 00:46:54,460
the scientists' concerns are symptomatic
910
00:46:54,460 --> 00:46:56,920
of the widespread anxiety and alarm
911
00:46:56,920 --> 00:47:00,560
caused by recent revelations of fakery and fraud.
912
00:47:00,560 --> 00:47:04,720
I do think that the recent sensational claims
913
00:47:04,720 --> 00:47:08,366
have made a mockery of the discipline of archeology.
914
00:47:08,366 --> 00:47:11,533
(soft ethereal music)
915
00:47:13,610 --> 00:47:17,660
When a real and important archeological find is made
916
00:47:17,660 --> 00:47:19,920
the public are unable to evaluate
917
00:47:19,920 --> 00:47:21,693
whether it's true or false.
918
00:47:23,600 --> 00:47:26,810
In a country where three powerful religions
919
00:47:26,810 --> 00:47:29,550
stake their claim to be the heirs of history,
920
00:47:29,550 --> 00:47:31,810
where believers will seize on any evidence
921
00:47:31,810 --> 00:47:33,800
that backs up their faith,
922
00:47:33,800 --> 00:47:38,800
archeologists have a tough job separating fiction from fact.
923
00:47:38,837 --> 00:47:41,837
(soft upbeat music)
924
00:47:43,000 --> 00:47:44,620
This matters a lot to us
925
00:47:44,620 --> 00:47:47,090
if we ever want to live in a real world,
926
00:47:47,090 --> 00:47:51,170
because what we have is fiction invading the real world.
927
00:47:51,170 --> 00:47:55,200
It stains archeological research, first of all.
928
00:47:55,200 --> 00:47:59,830
It stains the known reconstruction of biblical history.
929
00:47:59,830 --> 00:48:02,780
And there is a whole, a complete contamination
930
00:48:02,780 --> 00:48:05,060
of our research.
931
00:48:05,060 --> 00:48:09,260
And I think that we need to make a statement against this.
932
00:48:09,260 --> 00:48:11,080
As scores of fake artifacts
933
00:48:11,080 --> 00:48:13,190
have been sold around the world,
934
00:48:13,190 --> 00:48:15,860
academic reputations have been trashed
935
00:48:15,860 --> 00:48:18,680
and millions of dollars have changed hands.
936
00:48:18,680 --> 00:48:21,800
But it's not just museums and wealthy collectors
937
00:48:21,800 --> 00:48:23,000
who are being defrauded.
938
00:48:24,100 --> 00:48:28,590
Distorting history has profound consequences for everyone.
939
00:48:28,590 --> 00:48:30,660
You know, you feel betrayed.
940
00:48:30,660 --> 00:48:33,720
You feel that you were deceived.
941
00:48:33,720 --> 00:48:35,520
It's one thing to lie about something
942
00:48:35,520 --> 00:48:37,437
that is not important to people
943
00:48:37,437 --> 00:48:39,362
and it's something else to lie
944
00:48:39,362 --> 00:48:43,666
about something that is intrinsic to their identity.
945
00:48:43,666 --> 00:48:47,333
(dramatic orchestral music)
946
00:49:01,749 --> 00:49:05,249
(upbeat mysterious music)
69754
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