Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Jesus Family Tomb Believed Found

Discovery Channel

The Talpiot TombOn March 28, 1980, a construction crew developing an apartment complex in Talpiot, Jerusalem, uncovered a tomb, which archaeologists from the Israeli Antiquities

Authority excavated shortly thereafter. Archaeologist Shimon Gibson surveyed the site and drew a layout plan. Scholar L.Y. Rahmani later published "A Catalogue of Jewish Ossuaries" that described 10 ossuaries, or limestone bone boxes, found in the tomb.

Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News, writes...

Feb. 25, 2007 — New scientific evidence, [not proof] including DNA analysis conducted at one of the world's foremost molecular genetics laboratories, [What is the name???] as well as studies by leading scholars, [who are these scholars???] suggests a 2,000-year-old Jerusalem tomb could have once held the remains of Jesus of Nazareth and his family.

The findings also suggest that Jesus and Mary Magdalene might have produced a son named Judah.

The DNA findings, alongside statistical conclusions made about the artifacts — originally excavated in 1980 — open a potentially significant chapter in Biblical archaeological history.
The Talpiot Tomb

On March 28, 1980, a construction crew developing an apartment complex in Talpiot, Jerusalem, uncovered a tomb, which archaeologists from the Israeli Antiquities Authority excavated shortly thereafter. Archaeologist Shimon Gibson surveyed the site and drew a layout plan. Scholar L.Y. Rahmani later published "A Catalogue of Jewish Ossuaries" that described 10 ossuaries, or limestone bone boxes, found in the tomb.

Scholars know that from 30 B.C. to 70 A.D., many people in Jerusalem would first wrap bodies in shrouds after death. The bodies were then placed in carved rock tombs, where they decomposed for a year before the bones were placed in an ossuary.

Five of the 10 discovered boxes in the Talpiot tomb were inscribed with names believed to be associated with key figures in the New Testament: Jesus, Mary, Matthew, Joseph, and Mary Magdalene. A sixth inscription, written in Aramaic, translates to "Judah Son of Jesus."
"Such tombs are very typical for that region," Aaron Brody, associate professor of Bible and archaeology at the Pacific School of Religion and director of California's Bade Museum told

Ossuary Inscriptions

At least four leading epigraphers have corroborated the ossuary inscriptions for the documentary, according to the Discovery Channel.

Frank Moore Cross, a professor emeritus in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University, told Discovery News, "The inscriptions are from the Herodian Period, which occurred from around 1 B.C. to 1 A.D. The use of limestone ossuaries and the varied script styles are characteristic of that time."[Interesting, that says that everyone in the tomb died at the same time Jesus died or before 1 BC to 1 AD since Jesus was born the day after 1 BC and died the day before 1 AD]

Jodi Magness, associate department chair of religious studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, told Discovery News that, based on the New Testament writings, "Jesus likely lived during the first century A.D.” [Likely? He did.]

In addition to the "Judah son of Jesus" inscription, which is written in Aramaic on one of the ossuaries, another limestone burial box is labeled in Aramaic with "Jesus Son of Joseph.” [in the first place Jesus was not the son of Joseph, not biologically, so there would be no DNA match to Joseph, and If it can be scientifically proven that these are the bones of Jesus the son of God then why has this been sitting since 1980???]

Another bears the Hebrew inscription "Maria," a Latin version of "Miriam," or, in English, "Mary.” Yet another ossuary inscription, written in Hebrew, reads "Matia," the original Hebrew word for "Matthew.” Only one of the inscriptions is written in Greek. It reads, "Mariamene e Mara," which can be translated as, "Mary known as the master."

Francois Bovon, professor of the history of religion at Harvard University, told Discovery News, "Mariamene, or Mariamne, probably was the actual name given to Mary Magdalene."
Bovon explained that he and a colleague discovered a fourteenth century copy in Greek of a fourth century text that contains the most complete version of the "Acts of Philip" ever found. Although not included in the Bible, the "Acts of Philip" mentions the apostles and Mariamne, sister of the apostle Philip. [These so-called “Acts of Philip were written almost 200 years after the death of Philip of the New Testament ]

"When Philip is weak, she is strong," Bovon said. "She likely was a great teacher who even inspired her own sect of followers, called Mariamnists, who existed from around the 2nd to the 3rd century." [assuming that, that is AD, it is also 2 to300 years later]

DNA Analysis

Jacobovici, director, producer and writer of "The Lost Tomb of Jesus," and his team obtained two sets of samples from the ossuaries for DNA and chemical analysis. The first set consisted of bits of matter taken from the "Jesus Son of Joseph" and "Mariamene e Mara" ossuaries. The second set consisted of patina — a chemical film encrustation on one of the limestone boxes.[who knows where that came from]

The human remains were analyzed by Carney Matheson, a scientist at the Paleo-DNA Laboratory at Lakehead University in Ontario, Canada. Mitochondrial DNA examination determined the individual in the Jesus ossuary and the person in the ossuary linked to Mary Magdalene were not related.

Since tombs normally contain either blood relations or spouses, Jacobovici and his team suggest it is possible Jesus and Mary Magdalene were a couple. "Judah," whom they indicate may have been their son, could have been the "lad" described in the Gospel of John as sleeping in Jesus' lap at the Last Supper.

Robert Genna, director of the Suffolk County Crime Laboratory in New York, analyzed both the patina taken from the Talpiot Tomb and chemical residue obtained from the "James" ossuary, which was also found around 1980, but subsequently disappeared and resurfaced in the antiquities market. Although controversy surrounds this burial box, Genna found that the two patinas matched. [since it disappeared no one knows for sure which ossuary it came from]

"The samples were consistent with each other," Genna told Discovery News. [that could be because they came from the same ossuary]

Upon examining the tomb, the filmmakers determined a space exists that would have fit the "James" ossuary. Given the patina match and this observation, Jacobovici theorizes the lost burial box could, in fact, be the ‘James” ossuary. [the statement, “could, in fact” is an oxymoron, it is either fact or it isn’t]
End

Note: Pertaining to the previous article, all of the emphasis added by bold blue print is mine, the words are original. All the words in [brackets] and red are mine.

By de Andréa

If you notice, this entire article is based on word usage such as “could have, suggest, might have, conclusions, theories, likely, probably, possibly, normally, linked to, may have been, could in fact, and we even have filmmakers” determining things in this so-called Scientific investigation.

Jacobovici, a self-proclaimed expert on biblical history has been wholly ignored by his archeological colleagues as being a Indiana Jones nut.

This entire study, if one could even call it that, is based on bad history, bad science, conjecture, theories, and like the article says; “what may have been” This is a long way from Scientific Proof.

Science is exact which means it can be proved. This is not Science, this is just a fictional story built on the possibility that this might have been the family tomb of Joseph and Mary, but the question that still remains to be proven, is, which Joseph and Mary??? I personally know two Bob and Karen’s…

One advantage to a Religion is, it doesn't need to be proved. It is a belief by faith. Science on the other hand does need to be proved. Because there is no proof here, only words thay would be used in a Religious belief, maybe Jocobovici is trying to start a new Religion. Someone should tell him we already have an anti Christian Religion, It's called Islam...
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