The
archaeological examination by robotic camera of an intact first century tomb in
Jerusalem has revealed a set of limestone Jewish ossuaries or “bone boxes” that
are engraved with a rare Greek inscription and a unique iconographic image that
the scholars involved identify as distinctly Christian.
The four-line
Greek inscription on one ossuary refers to God “raising up” someone and a
carved image found on an adjacent ossuary shows what appears to be a large fish
with a human stick figure in its mouth, interpreted by the excavation team to
be an image evoking the biblical story of Jonah.
In the
earliest gospel materials the “sign of Jonah,” as mentioned by Jesus, has been
interpreted as a symbol of his resurrection. Jonah images in later “early”
Christian art, such as images found in the Roman catacombs, are the most common
motif found on tombs as a symbol of Christian resurrection hope. In contrast,
the story of Jonah is not depicted in any first century Jewish art and
iconographic images on ossuaries are extremely rare, given the prohibition
within Judaism of making images of people or animals.
The tomb
in question is dated prior to 70 CE, when ossuary use in Jerusalem ceased due
to the Roman destruction of the city. Accordingly, if the markings are
Christian as the scholars involved believe, the engravings represent – by
several centuries – the earliest archaeological record of Christians ever
found. The engravings were most likely made by some of Jesus’ earliest
followers, within decades of his death. Together, the inscription and the Jonah
image testify to early Christian faith in resurrection. The tomb record thus
predates the writing of the gospels.
The
findings are detailed in a preliminary report by James D. Tabor, professor and
chair of religious studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte,
which is published online.
“If
anyone had claimed to find either a statement about resurrection or a Jonah
image in a Jewish tomb of this period I would have said impossible — until
now,” Tabor said. “Our team was in a kind of ecstatic disbelief, but the
evidence was clearly before our eyes, causing us to revise our prior
assumptions.”
The
publication of the academic article is concurrent with the publication of a
book by Simon & Schuster entitled “The Jesus Discovery: The New
Archaeological Find That Reveals the Birth of Christianity.” The book is
co-authored by Professor James Tabor and filmmaker/professor Simcha Jacobovici.
A documentary on the discovery will be aired by the Discovery Channel in spring
2012.
The
findings and their interpretation are likely to be controversial, since most
scholars are skeptical of any Christian archaeological remains from so early a
period. Adding to the controversy is the tomb’s close proximity to a second
tomb, discovered in 1980. This tomb, dubbed by some “The Jesus Family Tomb,”
contained inscribed ossuaries that some scholars associate with Jesus and his
family, including one that reads “Jesus, son of Joseph.”
“Context
is everything in archaeology,” Tabor pointed out. “These two tombs, less than
200 feet apart, were part of an ancient estate, likely related to a rich family
of the time. We chose to investigate this tomb because of its proximity to the
so-called ‘Jesus tomb,’ not knowing if it would yield anything unusual.”
The tomb
containing the new discoveries is a modest sized, carefully carved rock cut
cave tomb typical of Jerusalem in the period from 20 BCE until 70 CE.
The tomb
was exposed in 1981 by builders and is currently several meters under the
basement level of a modern condominium building in East Talpiot, a neighborhood
of Jerusalem less than two miles south of the Old City. Archaeologists entered
the tomb at the time, were able to briefly examine it and its ossuaries, take
preliminary photographs, and remove one pot and an ossuary, before they were
forced to leave by Orthodox religious groups who oppose excavation of Jewish
tombs.
The
ossuary taken, that of a child, is now in the Israel State Collection. It is
decorated but has no inscriptions. The archaeologists mention “two Greek names”
but did not notice either the newly discovered Greek inscription or the Jonah
image before they were forced to leave. The tomb was re-sealed and buried
beneath the condominium complex on what is now Don Gruner Street in East
Talpiot.
The
adjacent “Jesus tomb,” was uncovered by the same construction company in 1980,
just one year earlier. It was thoroughly excavated and its contents removed by
the Israel Antiquities Authority. This tomb’s controversial ossuaries with
their unusual cluster of names (that some have associated with Jesus and his family)
are now part of the Israel State Collection and have been on display in various
venues, including the Israel Museum. These ossuaries will be in an exhibit
running from late February through April 15 at Discovery Times Square.
In 2009
and 2010, Tabor and Rami Arav, professor of archaeology at the University of
Nebraska at Omaha, working together with Jacobovici, obtained a license to
excavate the current tomb from the Israel Antiquities Authority under the
academic sponsorship of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Because
of its physical location under a modern building (making direct access nearly
impossible), along with the threat of Orthodox Jewish groups that would protest
any such excavation, Tabor’s team determined to employ a minimally invasive
procedure in examining the tomb.
Funding
for the excavation was provided by the Discovery Channel/Vision
Television/Associated Producers. Jacobovici’s team at the Toronto based
Associated Producers developed a sophisticated robotic arm to carry high
definition cameras, donated by General Electric. The robotic arm and a second
“snake camera” were inserted through two drill holes in the basement floor of
the building above the tomb. The probe was successful and the team was able to
reach all the ossuaries and photograph them on all sides, thus revealing the
new inscriptions.
Beyond
the possible Christian connection, Tabor noted that the tomb’s assemblage of
ossuaries stands out as clearly extraordinary in the context of other
previously explored tombs in Jerusalem.
“Everything
in this tomb seems unusual when contrasted with what one normally finds
inscribed on ossuaries in Jewish tombs of this period,” Tabor said. “Of the
seven ossuaries remaining in the tomb, four of them have unusual features.”
There are
engravings on five of the seven ossuaries: an enigmatic symbol on ossuary 2
(possibly reading Yod Heh Vav Heh or “Yahweh” in stylized letters that can be
read as Greek or Hebrew, though the team is uncertain); an inscription reading
“MARA” in Greek letters (which Tabor translates as the feminine form of “lord”
or “master” in Aramaic) on ossuary 3; an indecipherable word in Greek letters
on ossuary 4 (possibly a name beginning with “JO…”); the remarkable four-line
Greek inscription on ossuary 5; and finally, and most importantly, a series of
images on ossuary 6, including the large image of a fish with a figure seeming
to come out of its mouth.
Among the
approximately 2000 ossuaries that have been recovered by the Israel Antiquities
Authority, only 650 have any inscriptions on them, and none have inscriptions
comparable to those on ossuaries 5 and 6.
Less than
a dozen ossuaries from the period have epitaphs but, according to Tabor, these
inscribed messages usually have to do with warnings not to disturb the bones of
the dead. In contrast, the four-line Greek inscription contains some kind of
statement of resurrection faith.
“This
inscription has something to do with resurrection of the dead, either of the
deceased in the ossuary, or perhaps, given the Jonah image nearby, an
expression of faith in Jesus’ resurrection,” Tabor said.
The
ossuary with the image that Tabor and his team understand to be representing
Jonah also has other interesting engravings. These also may be connected to
resurrection, Tabor notes. On one side is the tail of a fish disappearing off
the edge of the box, as if it is diving into the water. There are small fish
images around its border on the front facing, and on the other side is the
image of a cross-like gate or entrance—which Tabor interprets as the notion of
entering the “bars” of death, which are mentioned in the Jonah story in the
Bible.
“This
Jonah ossuary is most fascinating,” Tabor remarked. “It seems to represent a
pictorial story with the fish diving under the water on one end, the bars or
gates of death, the bones inside, and the image of the great fish spitting out
a man representing, based on the words of Jesus, the ‘sign of Jonah’ – the
‘sign’ that he would escape the bonds of death.”
Source: http://www.bogoslov.ru/en/text/2505343/
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