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Talpiot Tomb

Coordinates: 31°45′05″N 35°14′07″E / 31.751402°N 35.235198°E / 31.751402; 35.235198
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File:The Talpiot Tomb.jpg
An image of the chevron-adorned entrance to the Talpiot Tomb, as it was unearthed in 1980.
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The Talpiot Tomb (or Talpiyot Tomb) is a rock-cut tomb discovered in 1980 in the East Talpiot neighborhood, five kilometers south of the Old City in East Jerusalem. It contained ten ossuaries, six of them with epigraphs, including one with the inscription that has been interpreted as "Jesus, son of Joseph", though this text is disputed.[1] The tomb also yielded various human remains and several carvings.

The Talpiot find was first published in 1994 in "Catalogue of Jewish Ossuaries in the Collections of the State of Israel" numbers 701-709, and first discussed in the media in Britain during March/April 1996.[2] Later in 1996, an article describing the find was published in volume 29 of Atiqot, the journal of the Israel Antiquities Authority. A controversial 2007 documentary film produced by Canadian film director James Cameron and investigative journalist Simcha Jacobovici titled The Lost Tomb of Jesus and a book written by Jacobovici, together with Charles Pellegrino, The Jesus Family Tomb present findings that the authors believe prove that the Talpiot Tomb was the burial place of Jesus of Nazareth, as well as several other figures from the New Testament. This claim is disputed by many archaeologists and theologians, as well as language and biblical scholars.[1][3]

History

The archaeological team that excavated the tomb in 1980 determined it to be from the Second Temple period, which lasted from about 538 B.C. to A.D. 70. Typical of the area, a tomb of this type would be assumed to have belonged to a wealthy Jewish family. About 900 similar tombs have been unearthed in the same area.[3]

Discovery and excavation

The tomb was discovered on March 28, 1980, by construction workers laying the foundations for an apartment complex,[4] when preparatory demolition work accidentally uncovered the tomb's entrance. The site was visited the next day by Amos Kloner, the area supervisor for the Israel Department of Antiquities (IDA, now the Israel Antiquities Authority, or IAA.) Kloner drew up a set of preliminary sketches and requested a permit for a salvage dig to be directed by Yosef Gath. The permit was issued Monday, March 31, but work actually began the day before.[4] Although it has been said that the team was only given three days to complete the work,[5] Gath's notes indicate that the work proceeded "intermittently" until its official end on April 11, with most of the work completed within the first two days.

Construction of the apartment buildings was completed in 1982. The children of Tova Bracha, a local resident, managed to get into the tomb and play inside. Bracha notified the authorities, who sealed the entrance for safety reasons.[6] The children found some discarded Jewish religious texts that had been placed in the tomb, which was being used as a genizah.

Jacobovici and his film crew opened the tomb again in 2005. Their footage was incorporated into the 2007 documentary The Lost Tomb of Jesus. As Jacobovici and his crew had neglected to obtain permission from the Antiques Authority, an official ordered that the tomb be resealed. The tomb, which is not open to the public, is located in a courtyard on Dov Gruner Street, down a flight of stairs at the corner of Olei Hagardom and Avshalom Haviv Streets.[7]

The concrete slab covering the tomb

On January 17, 2008, Ruth Gat, the widow of the archaeologist who discovered the tomb in Talpiot, claimed that Yosef Gat had kept the discovery a secret until mid-1990s because he was afraid a wave of anti-Semitism would ensue if he did so.[8]

Layout

The tomb is carved from the solid limestone bedrock.[9] Within are six kokhim, or burial shafts and two arcosolia, or arched shelves where a body could be laid out for entombment. The ossuaries were found within the shafts.[4]

Artifacts

Ossuaries

Ten limestone[9] ossuaries were found, with six of them bearing epigraphs[3] although only four of them were recognized as such in the field.[4] The archaeological team determined the ossuaries to be of little note, and delivered them to the Rockefeller Museum for analysis and storage.

According to Jacobovici, Cameron, and religious studies professor James Tabor, one of the unmarked ossuaries later disappeared when it was stored in a courtyard outside the museum.[4] This claim has been criticized by both Joe Zias, former curator of the museum, and Kloner.[10]

Names said to have been on the ossuaries were:

  • Yeshua bar Yehosef
  • Maria
  • Yose
  • Yehuda bar Yeshua
  • Maramene e Mara
  • Matya

Each of the ten ossuaries contained human remains, said to be in an "advanced state of deterioration" by Amos Kloner.[4] The tomb may have been multigenerational, with several generations of bones stored in each ossuary, but no record was kept of their contents[11] and no analysis appears to have been done to determine how many individuals were represented by the bones found.[4] In addition, three skulls were found on the floor of the tomb below the 0.5 metre fill layer,[5] and crushed bones were found in the fill upon the arcosolia.[4] The scattering of these bones below the fill indicated that the tomb had been disturbed in antiquity.[11] All the bones were eventually turned over to religious authorities for burial.[4][11]

Symbols

Some of the walls have carvings on them, including several chevron symbols[citation needed]. A "chevron and circle" pattern is visible above the entrance of the tomb. Some believe this is a depiction of the Nicanor Gate of the Temple of Jerusalem, which appears on coins from this period.[12] In the same way that the Nicanor gate marked the end of a pilgrimage, the entrance to the tomb may have marked the end of a pilgrimage. Some have noted that the chevron and circle look like the Greek letters Lambda and Omicron, respectively; others contend that the Paleo-Hebrew letters Daleth and Ayin would be more likely referents.

Media coverage

The BBC first aired a documentary on the Talpiot Tomb in 1996 as part of its Heart of the Matter news magazine.[5] 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."[13]

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]

2008 Princeton Symposium

Following a symposium ("Third Princeton Theological Seminary Symposium on Jewish Views of the Afterlife and Burial Practices in Second Temple Judaism: Evaluating the Talpiot Tomb in Context") held in Jerusalem in January 2008, the media interest in the Talpiot tomb was reignited with most notably Time[14] and CNN[15] devoting extensive coverage, hailing the case as being reopened. In particular Simcha Jacobovici is reported to have issued statements to the press saying the symposium has reopened the case and that he felt "totally vindicated".[16] Jacobovici has denied making any such press release.[17]

It was during this symposium that Ruth Gat, while accepting a posthumous award for Yosef Gat, announced: "My husband, the lead archaeologist of the East Talpiot tomb in southern Jerusalem, believed that the tomb he excavated in 1980 was, indeed, the tomb of Jesus of Nazareth and his family."[18]

Following the media's portrayal scholars present at the symposium accused Simcha Jacobovici and James Cameron of misleading the media in claiming the symposium reopened their theory as viable. Several scholars, including significantly all of the archaeologists and epigraphers, who had delivered papers at the symposium issued an open letter of complaint claiming misrepresentation, saying that Jacobovici and Cameron's claims of support from the symposium are "nothing further from the truth".[19]

The list of scholars who signed the open letter's criticism included:

  • Professor Jodi Magness, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • Professor Eric M. Meyers, Duke University
  • Choon-Leon Seow, Princeton Theological Seminary
  • F.W. Dobbs-Allsopp, Princeton Theological Seminary
  • Lee McDonald, Princeton Theological Seminary, visiting
  • Rachel Hachlili, Haifa University
  • Motti Aviam, University of Rochester
  • Amos Kloner, Bar Ilan University
  • Christopher Rollston, Emmanuel School of Religion
  • Shimon Gibson, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
  • Joe Zias, Science and Antiquity Group, Jerusalem
  • Jonathan Price, Tel Aviv University
  • C.D. Elledge, Gutavus Adolphus College

Joe Zias, Senior Curator of Archaeology/Anthropology for the Israel Antiquities Authority 1972-1997, cited a leaked memo issued from James Tabor before the symposium as proof of "outside intervention by Simcha and Tabor in order to distort the agenda and skew the proceedings in a way that was favorable to their pre-conceived plan".[20] Geza Vermes issued a statement saying that the arguments for the Talpiot tomb are not "just unconvincing but insignificant".[21] That "Discounting a handful, headed by James Tabor and Simcha Jacobovici, the maker of the documentary, The Lost Tomb of Jesus, most of the fifty or so participants shared this opinion".

Princeton Theological Seminary issued a letter following the controversy and reiterated concerns that:

"the press following the symposium gave almost the exact opposite impression (of the symposium's results), stating, instead, that the conference proceedings gave credence to the identification of the Talpiot tomb with a putative family tomb of Jesus of Nazareth. As is abundantly clear from the statements to the contrary that have been issued since the symposium by many of the participants, such representations are patently false and blatantly misrepresent the spirit and scholarly content of the deliberations."[21]

The proceedings of the symposium will be edited by James Charlesworth and published.[22]

A recent edition of the scientific journal Near Eastern Archaeology (Vol. 69, Iss. 3/4, Sep-Dec 2006), published by The American Schools of Oriental Research contains several articles concerning the Talpiot Tomb, including an overview over the controversy.

The Lost Tomb of Jesus and The Jesus Family Tomb

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

The Lost Tomb of Jesus premiered on The Discovery Channel on March 4, 2007, timed to coordinate with publication of Jacobovici's book The Jesus Family Tomb.

Jacobovici argues that the bones of Jesus, Mary and Mary Magdalene, along with some of their relatives, were once entombed in this cave, working with statisticians, archaeologists, historians, DNA experts, robot-camera technicians, epigraphers and a forensic expert to argue his case. This claim is rejected by most biblical scholars of archaeology.[23]

Israeli archaeologist Amos Kloner, who was among the first to examine the tomb when it was first discovered, said the names marked on the coffins were very common at the time. "I don't accept the news that it was used by Jesus or his family," he told the BBC News website. "The documentary filmmakers are using it to sell their film."[24]

Statistical analysis

A central question has regarded the probability that a tomb might contain the specific group of names as the Talpiot Tomb. Experts such as Richard Bauckham,[25] David Mavorah[26] and Amos Kloner[26] have asserted the commonness of archaeological inscriptions bearing the name "Jesus." Paul Maier, professor of ancient history at Western Michigan University, notes that there were at least 21 "Yeshuas" or Jesuses famous enough to be included in the histories of Josephus.[27] For their part, the filmmakers present a statistical study conducted by Andrey Feuerverger, professor of statistics and mathematics at the University of Toronto, which concluded that while the names are not uncommon, the conservative odds that such names would be found together in any one tomb around are (depending on variables) from 600 to 1[28] to 1,000,000 to 1 in favor of it being authentic.[29]

However, Dr. Feuerverger later said, "It is not in the purview of statistics to conclude whether or not this tombsite is that of the New Testament family. Any such conclusion much more rightfully belongs to the purview of biblical historical scholars who are in a much better position to assess the assumptions entering into the computations. The role of statistics here is primarily to attempt to assess the odds of an equally (or more) 'compelling' cluster of names arising purely by chance under certain random sampling assumptions and under certain historical assumptions. In this respect I now believe that I should not assert any conclusions connecting this tomb with any hypothetical one of the NT family."[30] Dr. Feuerverger's assessment was based on several assumptions:

  • that the Maria on one of the ossuaries is the mother of the Jesus found on another box
  • that Mariamne is his wife
  • that Joseph (inscribed as the nickname Jose) is his brother

Support for these assumptions comes, according to the documentary, from the following claims:[5]

  • Mariamne is the Greek form of Marya and, according to Francois Bovon, the name describes Mary Magdelene in the Acts of Philip
  • Mary Magdelene is believed to have spoken and preached in Greek
  • Jose was the nickname used for Jesus' little brother
  • The Talpiot Tomb is the only place where ossuaries have ever been found with the names Mariamne and Jose, even though the root forms of the name were very popular and thousands of ossuaries have been unearthed

Further information regarding the methodology of this study is due to be published soon.[31][32][33][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][citation needed]

On February 25, 2007, Andrey Feuerverger, professor of statistics and mathematics at the University of Toronto conducted a statistical calculation on the name cluster as part of The Lost Tomb of Jesus. He concluded that the odds are at least 600 to 1 that the combination of names appeared in the tomb by chance. The methodology of this study has been submitted to a journal, but in the meantime a summary can be found on the Discovery Channel[28][40] and documentary[41] websites. A more detailed explanation of the statistical approach can be found also on Feuerverger's website[42] as well as in a recent interview given to Scientific American.[43] The frequency distribution for names prevalent during the period of time during which ossuary burials took place was inferred by studying two key sources:

  • Rahmani's Catalogue of Jewish Ossuaries in the Collections of the State of Israel[44]
  • Tal Ilan's Lexicon of Jewish Names in Late Antiquity[45]

According to Prof. Feuerverger, the goal of the statistical analysis is to assess the probability level of a null hypothesis:[42]

A 'null hypothesis' can be thought of here as asserting that this cluster of names arose purely by chance under random sampling from the onomasticon. The alternative hypothesis is the opposite of this, in some sense. It is not in the purview of statistics to conclude whether or not this tombsite is that of the New Testament family.

Feuerverger multiplied the instances that each name appeared during the tomb's time period with the instances of every other name. He initially found "Jesus Son of Joseph" appeared once out of 190 times, Mariamne appeared once out of 160 times and so on:

Jesus son of Joseph Mariamne Yosah Maria Product
1/190 1/160 1/20 1/4 date=1/2,432,000
0.53% 0.625% 5% 25%

He next divided 2,432,000 by 4 to account for bias in the historical record and further divided that result (608,000) by 1,000 to attempt to account for the number of explored tombs from first century Jerusalem.[46][47]

Feuerverger's conclusions have been called into question:

  • According to some, multiplying the individual name probabilities is wrong because many permutations of the same names are possible.
  • The inclusion of Mariamne in the calculation is based on two assumptions:
    • Mary Magdelene in New Testament (NT) was Jesus’ wife. (There is no historical evidence for this.)
    • Mary Magdelene’s real name was Mariamne. (This assumption is disputed by some experts.[48][49])
  • The calculation adjusts only for the 1,000 tombs found in Jerusalem instead of the whole Jewish populace that lived in the area. This effectively assumes that Jesus family in NT did indeed have a family tomb and it was among the 1000 tombs found in Jerusalem area.[50][51] There is no historical evidence for this assumption. Some experts, including archaeologist Amos Kloner (the one who excavated the tombs) do not accept that the poor family from Nazareth had a family tomb in Jerusalem.[52]
  • The inscription “Judah son of Jesus” is ignored in the calculation. Since there is no historical evidence that Jesus had any children, some people believe this inscription should be included in the calculation to reduce the probability that the tomb belongs to the Jesus family.[53]

Randy Ingermanson and Jay Cost did their own statistical analysis [54] in which they looked at the probabilities given various assumptions.

  • What they called a 'typical historian', they calculate, would odds of about 1 in 19,000 that this is the real tomb of Jesus.
  • A historian who wanted it to be the real tomb very badly would make assumptions that would change the odds to about 1 in 18.
  • A historian leaning towards it being the real tomb but "staying within the bounds of historical reasonableness" would make assumptions that would make the odds about 1 in 1,100.
  • Another historian leaning against it being the real tomb, but also working within the same bounds, would estimate odds of about 1 in five million.
  • And of course a Christian who insisted that Jesus ascended to Heaven would say it is impossible for this to be his tomb.

Stephan Pfann (president of Jerusalem's University of the Holy Land) points out that the commonality of these names suggests that the probability is much lower. "Remarkably, a mere 16 of the 72 personal names [found on ossuaries] account for 75% of the inscribed names." Among these "top 16" names are Mary, Joseph, Jesus, Matthew, and Judas.[55]

Richard Bauckham (Professor of New Testament Studies and Bishop Wardlaw Professor at St Andrews) compiled the following data to show just how common the names on these ossuaries are:[56]

"Out of a total number of 2625 males, these are the figures for the ten most popular male names among Palestinian Jews. The first figure is the total number of occurrences (from this number, with 2625 as the total for all names, you could calculate percentages), while the second is the number of occurrences specifically on ossuaries."
Rank Name Total References Found on Ossuaries Percent of Total References (2625)
1 Simon/Simeon 243 59 9.3%
2 Joseph 218 45 8.3%
3 Eleazar 166 29 6.3%
4 Judah 164 44 6.2%
5 John/Yohanan 122 25 4.6%
6 Jesus 99 22 3.8%
7 Hananiah 82 18 3.1%
8 Jonathan 71 14 2.7%
9 Matthew 62 17 2.4%
10 Manaen/Menahem 42 4 1.6%
"For women, we have a total of 328 occurrences (women's names are much less often recorded than men's), and figures for the 4 most popular names are thus:"
Rank Name Total References Found on Ossuaries Percent of Total References (328)
1 Mary/Mariamne 70 42 21.3%
2 Salome 58 41 17.7%
3 Shelamzion 24 19 7.3%
4 Martha 20 17 6.1%

Colin Aitken, a professor of forensic statistics at Edinburgh University, stated that the study is based on a number of assumptions, and that, "even if we accept the assumptions, 600 to one is certainly not the odds in favour of this tomb being Jesus."[57] meaning that even if it were true that to find this cluster of names is very unlikely it does not follow that therefore this is probably the tomb of the family of Jesus.

References

  1. ^ a b Heiser, Michael. "Evidence Real and Imagined: Thinking Clearly About the "Jesus Family Tomb"" (PDF). pp. 9–13. Retrieved 2007-06-08.
  2. ^ "London Times Tomb Story".
  3. ^ a b c Milstein, Mati (2007-02-28). "Jesus' tomb claim slammed by scholars". National Geographic News. Retrieved 2007-03-14.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Tabor, James (2007-03-27). "A Passover in 1980". The Jesus Dynasty Blog. Retrieved 2007-06-08.
  5. ^ a b c d Laidlaw, Stuart (2007-02-26). "Jesus tomb claim sparks furor". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2007-02-28.
  6. ^ Paz, Shelly (2007-02-27). "E. Talpiot residents adjust to possibility they're Jesus's neighbors". Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 2007-03-14.
  7. ^ Gordon, Nehemia. "The Tomb of Yeshua son of Joseph in "East Talpiot"". Retrieved 2007-06-08.
  8. ^ Widow: Archeologist kept 'Jesus tomb' discovery secret for fear of anti-Semitism
  9. ^ a b Nissenbaum, Dion (2007-02-27). "'Lost Tomb' documentary jeered". McClatchy Newspapers. Retrieved 2007-03-14.
  10. ^ Zias, Joe (2007-03). "Viewers Guide to Understanding the Talpiot Tomb 'documentary' to be aired on the Discovery Channel". Retrieved 2007-06-08. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  11. ^ a b c Nathan, Peter (2007-02-28). "A Critical Look Inside the Jesus Tomb". Vision Media. Retrieved 2007-03-14.
  12. ^ R. Kirk Kilpatrick, Ph.D. on the Symbolism of the Tomb http://confirmedword.blogspot.com/2007/03/temple-of-augustus-or-temple-of-lord.html
  13. ^ "Clergy, scholars assail tomb of Jesus film". The Courier-Journal. 2007-02-27. Retrieved 2007-02-27. [dead link]
  14. ^ "Jesus 'Tomb' Controversy Reopened". Time. 2008-01-16. Retrieved 2010-05-24.
  15. ^ "CNN.com Video". CNN. Retrieved 2010-05-24.
  16. ^ Princeton Conference Vindicates Associated Producers James Cameron and Simcha Jacobovici on "Lost Tomb of Jesus"
  17. ^ http://www.bib-arch.org/scholars-study/jesus-tomb-11.asp
  18. ^ http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Princeton-Conference-Vindicates-Associated-Producers-James-Cameron-Simcha-Jacobovici-811301.htm
  19. ^ Duke University Religion Department: The Talpiot Tomb Controversy Revisited
  20. ^ .[1][]
  21. ^ a b 2007 Alumni/ae Reunion
  22. ^ J. H. Charlesworth, Rebutting Sensational Claims Concerning a Symposium in Jerusalem
  23. ^ Society of Biblical Literature
  24. ^ Jesus tomb found, says film-maker, BBC News. Retrieved 2010-04-13/
  25. ^ "Hollywood Hype: The Oscars and Jesus' Family Tomb, What Do They Share? (expanded version)". 2007-02-26. Retrieved 2007-02-28.
  26. ^ a b Pilkington, Ed (2007-02-27). "Is this really the last resting place of Jesus, Mary Magdalene—and their son?". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 2007-02-28. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  27. ^ Goodstein, Laurie (2007-02-28). "Documentary examines supposed remains of Jesus and his family". International Herald Tribune. Retrieved 2007-03-01. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  28. ^ a b Viegas, Jennifer (2007-02-25). "Jesus Family Tomb Believed Found". Discovery Channel. Retrieved 2007-02-28.
  29. ^ Goodstein, Laurie (2007-02-28). "Documentary examines supposed remains of Jesus". International Herald Tribune. Retrieved 2007-03-01. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  30. ^ magicstatistics.com
  31. ^ Annals of Applied Statistics, February 2008. http://www.e-publications.org/ims/submission/index.php/AOAS/user/submissionFile/1322?confirm=2afe8806
  32. ^ Annals of Applied Statistics, February 2008. http://www.e-publications.org/ims/submission/index.php/AOAS/user/submissionFile/2567?confirm=8e6940c8
  33. ^ a b Annals of Applied Statistics, February 2008. http://www.e-publications.org/ims/submission/index.php/AOAS/user/submissionFile/2258?confirm=6f17236a
  34. ^ Annals of Applied Statistics, February 2008. http://www.e-publications.org/ims/submission/index.php/AOAS/user/submissionFile/2134?confirm=51b89ebc
  35. ^ Annals of Applied Statistics, February 2008. http://www.e-publications.org/ims/submission/index.php/AOAS/user/submissionFile/2285?confirm=d867945a
  36. ^ Annals of Applied Statistics, February 2008. http://www.e-publications.org/ims/submission/index.php/AOAS/user/submissionFile/2593?confirm=563f7b9b
  37. ^ Annals of Applied Statistics, February 2008. http://www.e-publications.org/ims/submission/index.php/AOAS/user/submissionFile/2705?confirm=96febe0f
  38. ^ Annals of Applied Statistics, February 2008. http://www.e-publications.org/ims/submission/index.php/AOAS/user/submissionFile/2702?confirm=37d9f6b3
  39. ^ Annals of Applied Statistics, February 2008. http://www.e-publications.org/ims/submission/index.php/AOAS/user/submissionFile/2787?confirm=604bb55f
  40. ^ Lost Tomb of Jesus : Explore the Tomb : Discovery Channel
  41. ^ The Jesus Family Tomb: Probability & the "Jesus Equation"
  42. ^ a b http://fisher.utstat.toronto.edu/andrey/OfficeHrs.txt
  43. ^ Q&A With the Statistician Who Calculated the Odds That This Tomb Belonged to Jesus: Scientific American
  44. ^ L. Rahmani, A Catalogue of Jewish Ossuaries in the Collections of the State of Israel, (IAA/Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 1994)
  45. ^ Ilan, Tal. 2002. LEXICON OF JEWISH NAMES IN LATE ANTIQUITY: PART I, PALESTINE 330 BCE-200 CE. Tubingen, Germany: Mohr Siebeck.
  46. ^ prnewswire.com
  47. ^ fisher.utstat.toronto.edu
  48. ^ Witherington, Ben (2007-02-26). "PROBLEMS MULTIPLY FOR JESUS TOMB THEORY". Retrieved 2007-02-28.
  49. ^ Bauckham, Richard (2007-03-01). "The alleged 'Jesus family tomb'".
  50. ^ NT Gateway Weblog
  51. ^ NT Gateway Weblog
  52. ^ Kloner, Amos (2007-02-27). "Archaeologist Amos Kloner Doesn't Buy The Jesus Christ's Coffin Story".
  53. ^ ingermanson.com
  54. ^ http://www.ingermanson.com/jesus/art/stats2.php Bayes' Theorem And The "Jesus Family Tomb"
  55. ^ Pfann, Stephen. "The Improper Application of Statistics in "The Lost Tomb of Jesus"". Retrieved 2007-03-05.
  56. ^ Witherington, Ben (2007-02-26). "The Jesus Tomb? 'Titanic' Talpiot Tomb Theory Sunk from the Start". Retrieved 2007-02-28.
  57. ^ theherald.co.uk

Further reading

  • Eric M. Meyers: "The Jesus tomb controversy: an overview", Near Eastern Archaeology, Vol. 69, Iss. 3/4 (Sep-Dec 2006), pp. 116–118

31°45′05″N 35°14′07″E / 31.751402°N 35.235198°E / 31.751402; 35.235198

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