1 00:00:00,288 --> 00:00:03,270 (soft mysterious music) 2 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:07,000 Downloaded from YTS.MX 3 00:00:03,270 --> 00:00:04,710 In recent years, 4 00:00:04,710 --> 00:00:07,260 a series of extraordinary finds has been made 5 00:00:07,260 --> 00:00:08,143 in the Holy Land. 6 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:13,000 Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX 7 00:00:09,600 --> 00:00:11,280 These astonishing discoveries are linked 8 00:00:11,280 --> 00:00:13,630 to some of the most famous events in the Bible. 9 00:00:16,970 --> 00:00:20,810 They appear to be new evidence for the burial of Jesus 10 00:00:23,200 --> 00:00:25,543 and for the legendary Temple of Solomon. 11 00:00:27,410 --> 00:00:29,980 This is something that biblical scholars 12 00:00:29,980 --> 00:00:32,330 have been waiting for, have been dreaming of, 13 00:00:32,330 --> 00:00:33,363 for many years. 14 00:00:34,200 --> 00:00:35,470 Here is a proof. 15 00:00:35,470 --> 00:00:39,030 We can touch it, we can smell it, we can go see it. 16 00:00:39,030 --> 00:00:40,380 This is where we came from. 17 00:00:41,430 --> 00:00:44,033 It's an earthquake, a revolution. 18 00:00:46,170 --> 00:00:48,700 Or is there another darker story 19 00:00:48,700 --> 00:00:50,483 behind these mysterious objects? 20 00:00:51,527 --> 00:00:54,694 (soft ethereal music) 21 00:01:03,360 --> 00:01:06,923 Jerusalem, the Holy Land's most important city. 22 00:01:08,895 --> 00:01:10,490 For centuries it's been the center 23 00:01:10,490 --> 00:01:12,203 of a flourishing antiquity trade. 24 00:01:13,830 --> 00:01:16,970 Government Inspectors try to monitor the trade, 25 00:01:16,970 --> 00:01:20,033 but thousands of artifacts change hands here every day. 26 00:01:21,100 --> 00:01:24,280 Genuine pieces 2,000 or more years old 27 00:01:24,280 --> 00:01:26,920 can be bought for a few hundred dollars. 28 00:01:26,920 --> 00:01:29,200 And many collectors have learned not to ask 29 00:01:29,200 --> 00:01:32,233 awkward questions about how the dealer came by them. 30 00:01:34,210 --> 00:01:37,010 And it was here more than 25 years ago, 31 00:01:37,010 --> 00:01:39,500 in Jerusalem's Antiquity Market, 32 00:01:39,500 --> 00:01:41,500 that one of the most remarkable artifacts 33 00:01:41,500 --> 00:01:45,099 in the Holy Land's history first came to light. 34 00:01:45,099 --> 00:01:48,570 (soft relaxing music) 35 00:01:48,570 --> 00:01:51,230 It was a tiny object, just four centimeters long, 36 00:01:51,230 --> 00:01:54,860 badly damaged, and no one knew where it came from. 37 00:01:54,860 --> 00:01:57,423 But it will be hailed as a unique piece of history. 38 00:01:58,740 --> 00:02:00,843 It became known as the ivory pomegranate. 39 00:02:04,238 --> 00:02:06,040 It was thought to be the ornamental tip 40 00:02:06,040 --> 00:02:08,363 of a priest's ceremonial staff. 41 00:02:09,630 --> 00:02:12,333 But what amazed the experts was the inscription. 42 00:02:14,353 --> 00:02:17,770 (Man speaking in Hebrew) 43 00:02:18,620 --> 00:02:21,930 Holy to the priests of the House of God. 44 00:02:21,930 --> 00:02:24,860 It suggested that this exquisite little ornament 45 00:02:24,860 --> 00:02:27,870 was used by priests in the first Temple of Jerusalem, 46 00:02:27,870 --> 00:02:31,443 which, according to the Bible, was built by King Solomon. 47 00:02:32,730 --> 00:02:36,260 If the pomegranate was what its inscription claimed, 48 00:02:36,260 --> 00:02:38,550 it was a revolutionary find. 49 00:02:38,550 --> 00:02:41,380 Before it came to light there was no independent evidence 50 00:02:41,380 --> 00:02:43,890 apart from the Bible that Solomon's Temple 51 00:02:43,890 --> 00:02:45,203 had actually existed. 52 00:02:49,340 --> 00:02:54,180 3,000 years ago, Jerusalem was a small Iron Age city 53 00:02:54,180 --> 00:02:56,660 whose ambitious King, the Bible tells us, 54 00:02:56,660 --> 00:02:58,803 decided to build a house for his God. 55 00:02:59,710 --> 00:03:00,730 In the fourth year 56 00:03:00,730 --> 00:03:02,750 of Solomon's reign over Israel, 57 00:03:02,750 --> 00:03:05,683 the construction of the Temple of the Lord was begun. 58 00:03:06,690 --> 00:03:08,810 The existence of Solomon's Temple 59 00:03:08,810 --> 00:03:11,103 is central to traditional Jewish belief. 60 00:03:12,270 --> 00:03:13,970 The house which King Solomon built 61 00:03:13,970 --> 00:03:17,770 for the Lord, the length thereof was threescore cubits. 62 00:03:17,770 --> 00:03:19,320 The breadth thereof, 20 cubits. 63 00:03:20,232 --> 00:03:22,190 And the height thereof, 30 cubits. 64 00:03:22,190 --> 00:03:26,100 Over 12 meters high and over 30 meters long, 65 00:03:26,100 --> 00:03:28,270 the House of God would have dominated the city 66 00:03:28,270 --> 00:03:29,103 and its people. 67 00:03:30,553 --> 00:03:33,560 (soft relaxing music continues) 68 00:03:33,560 --> 00:03:37,170 Since then, Jerusalem has suffered nearly 2,500 years 69 00:03:37,170 --> 00:03:38,393 of turbulent history. 70 00:03:42,430 --> 00:03:45,030 Jews, Christians, and Muslims 71 00:03:45,030 --> 00:03:48,040 all claim a stake in the city that features so large 72 00:03:48,040 --> 00:03:49,590 in the history of their faiths. 73 00:03:52,730 --> 00:03:55,630 A vast Muslim shrine, the Dome of the Rock, 74 00:03:55,630 --> 00:03:58,070 now occupies the site where Solomon's Temple 75 00:03:58,070 --> 00:03:59,413 is presumed to have stood. 76 00:04:04,340 --> 00:04:05,870 According to biblical history, 77 00:04:05,870 --> 00:04:09,910 the temple was destroyed by fire in 586 BC 78 00:04:09,910 --> 00:04:11,573 by invaders from Babylon. 79 00:04:13,443 --> 00:04:16,950 (crowd murmuring) 80 00:04:16,950 --> 00:04:20,610 The Western Wall, where Jewish pilgrims now come to pray, 81 00:04:20,610 --> 00:04:22,900 is all that's left of a second Temple 82 00:04:22,900 --> 00:04:25,140 built on the same site as Solomon's Temple 83 00:04:25,140 --> 00:04:28,163 by King Herod the Great, 500 years later. 84 00:04:28,163 --> 00:04:30,700 (crowd murmuring) 85 00:04:30,700 --> 00:04:33,740 In a country where cultural and territorial rights 86 00:04:33,740 --> 00:04:35,630 are the essence of politics, 87 00:04:35,630 --> 00:04:37,230 the story of Solomon's Temple 88 00:04:37,230 --> 00:04:39,453 has special significance for the Jews. 89 00:04:40,930 --> 00:04:43,500 But there's no trace of the Temple itself 90 00:04:43,500 --> 00:04:45,490 and archeologists are not allowed to dig 91 00:04:45,490 --> 00:04:47,553 in such a politically sensitive area. 92 00:04:48,543 --> 00:04:51,460 (wings fluttering) 93 00:04:52,660 --> 00:04:55,330 Archeologist Israel Finkelstein has amassed 94 00:04:55,330 --> 00:04:58,320 thousands of artifacts from that period of history, 95 00:04:58,320 --> 00:05:00,380 but not a fragment of evidence to back up 96 00:05:00,380 --> 00:05:02,423 the Bible's account of Solomon's Temple. 97 00:05:04,740 --> 00:05:07,270 There's no archeological evidence for the simple reason 98 00:05:07,270 --> 00:05:10,300 that we cannot excavate in the Temple Mount. 99 00:05:10,300 --> 00:05:14,320 I think also that even if it was possible 100 00:05:14,320 --> 00:05:15,820 to do something on the Temple Mount, 101 00:05:15,820 --> 00:05:17,490 there's a big question whether 102 00:05:17,490 --> 00:05:20,304 we could have discovered anything from the first Temple 103 00:05:20,304 --> 00:05:22,490 of the biblical times, 104 00:05:22,490 --> 00:05:25,180 because there was a huge building operation there 105 00:05:25,180 --> 00:05:26,950 in the time of Herod the Great, 106 00:05:26,950 --> 00:05:28,090 and there's good reason to think 107 00:05:28,090 --> 00:05:30,437 that everything was eradicated. 108 00:05:30,437 --> 00:05:32,560 (soft ethereal music) 109 00:05:32,560 --> 00:05:35,620 So the pomegranate was an extraordinary find. 110 00:05:35,620 --> 00:05:38,830 The tiny artifact with a large chip on one side 111 00:05:38,830 --> 00:05:42,090 was the first physical link to the lost Temple of Solomon. 112 00:05:45,741 --> 00:05:47,290 (dramatic pulsing music) 113 00:05:47,290 --> 00:05:49,633 But was the pomegranate authentic? 114 00:05:55,700 --> 00:05:58,550 In Israel, many genuine antiquities 115 00:05:58,550 --> 00:06:02,360 find their way onto the market from dubious sources. 116 00:06:02,360 --> 00:06:05,250 Just beyond the walls of the old city of Jerusalem, 117 00:06:05,250 --> 00:06:07,300 Amir Ganor, Chief Investigator 118 00:06:07,300 --> 00:06:09,690 for the Israel Antiquities Authority, 119 00:06:09,690 --> 00:06:12,890 is checking an underground tomb from the time of Jesus, 120 00:06:12,890 --> 00:06:14,053 the first century AD. 121 00:06:15,245 --> 00:06:18,643 (loud scraping) 122 00:06:18,643 --> 00:06:19,870 (door banging) 123 00:06:19,870 --> 00:06:23,770 Israel has thousands of ancient historic sites. 124 00:06:23,770 --> 00:06:27,370 Many are untouched and still contain valuable artifacts 125 00:06:27,370 --> 00:06:29,490 from biblical times. 126 00:06:29,490 --> 00:06:33,220 But all too often when archeologists arrive to explore them, 127 00:06:33,220 --> 00:06:35,520 they find that looters have beaten them to it. 128 00:06:38,704 --> 00:06:41,800 This is only one of thousands of caves 129 00:06:41,800 --> 00:06:44,690 that we have in this area. 130 00:06:44,690 --> 00:06:48,023 And unfortunately, most of them are looted. 131 00:06:49,440 --> 00:06:51,863 You could see the damage that they done here. 132 00:06:52,710 --> 00:06:56,451 They took everything, they destroyed this tomb. 133 00:06:56,451 --> 00:06:59,740 (soft upbeat music) 134 00:06:59,740 --> 00:07:01,160 The Holy Land's heritage 135 00:07:01,160 --> 00:07:03,063 is being plundered for cash. 136 00:07:04,610 --> 00:07:09,090 We assume that 95% of the antiquities 137 00:07:09,090 --> 00:07:12,340 that now are in the hands of the dealers, 138 00:07:12,340 --> 00:07:16,503 they are stolen property or they looted. 139 00:07:16,503 --> 00:07:20,336 (soft upbeat music continues) 140 00:07:23,870 --> 00:07:24,850 Most of the loot 141 00:07:24,850 --> 00:07:26,700 is brought to the Jerusalem Market 142 00:07:26,700 --> 00:07:28,863 where the ivory pomegranate first appeared. 143 00:07:30,750 --> 00:07:33,880 The man who came across it in the Jerusalem Market 144 00:07:33,880 --> 00:07:36,450 happened to be one of the world's leading experts 145 00:07:36,450 --> 00:07:40,280 on ancient inscriptions, Professor Andre Lemaire. 146 00:07:40,280 --> 00:07:41,837 One of the sellers told me, 147 00:07:41,837 --> 00:07:46,393 "I know an inscription which belongs to somebody else. 148 00:07:47,266 --> 00:07:50,450 "And would you be interested to see it?" 149 00:07:50,450 --> 00:07:52,210 He examined it closely. 150 00:07:52,210 --> 00:07:53,490 This is a very small object. 151 00:07:53,490 --> 00:07:55,380 You have to be aware that it is only about 152 00:07:55,380 --> 00:07:57,300 four centimeters high. 153 00:07:57,300 --> 00:08:00,719 And the inscription is still smaller, of course. 154 00:08:00,719 --> 00:08:04,070 And looking at it very carefully, 155 00:08:04,070 --> 00:08:09,070 I found that from what I could see, everything was okay. 156 00:08:09,620 --> 00:08:10,693 There was no problem. 157 00:08:12,470 --> 00:08:13,370 After inspecting 158 00:08:13,370 --> 00:08:15,590 the engraved Aramaic text, 159 00:08:15,590 --> 00:08:17,543 Lemaire had no doubt it was genuine. 160 00:08:21,200 --> 00:08:22,800 He published his report, 161 00:08:22,800 --> 00:08:26,230 declaring it to be authentic from the eighth century BC, 162 00:08:26,230 --> 00:08:27,693 the time of Solomon's Temple. 163 00:08:29,204 --> 00:08:32,871 (dramatic orchestral music) 164 00:08:37,660 --> 00:08:40,690 The tiny pomegranate would have played a humble part 165 00:08:40,690 --> 00:08:41,990 in the magnificent Temple. 166 00:08:43,800 --> 00:08:45,560 It would have been carried on precessions 167 00:08:45,560 --> 00:08:47,220 through the two great halls, 168 00:08:47,220 --> 00:08:49,983 whose walls were paneled in sweet smelling cedarwood. 169 00:08:52,670 --> 00:08:55,560 If the pomegranate belonged to one of the high priests, 170 00:08:55,560 --> 00:08:56,770 it would have accompanied him 171 00:08:56,770 --> 00:09:00,030 into the Temple's inner sanctum, the Holy of Holies, 172 00:09:00,030 --> 00:09:03,600 where winged cherubim guarded the Ark of the Covenant 173 00:09:03,600 --> 00:09:06,433 and the towering walls were encrusted with gold. 174 00:09:09,800 --> 00:09:12,980 But however humble its role might've been then, 175 00:09:12,980 --> 00:09:16,123 it was now the only artifact to survive from the Temple. 176 00:09:18,114 --> 00:09:21,364 (relaxing flute music) 177 00:09:23,010 --> 00:09:26,830 The Israel Museum, home to a world renowned collection 178 00:09:26,830 --> 00:09:30,530 of biblical artifacts, was now very keen to acquire it. 179 00:09:30,530 --> 00:09:33,430 It was an object of some excitement 180 00:09:33,430 --> 00:09:36,580 because when first identified, 181 00:09:36,580 --> 00:09:39,610 it was considered that it might be an object 182 00:09:39,610 --> 00:09:42,860 directly connected to the first Temple, to Solomon's Temple. 183 00:09:42,860 --> 00:09:45,000 And we really have very little material 184 00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:48,010 that comes from that period from Jerusalem 185 00:09:48,010 --> 00:09:51,670 and that can be directly connected to that moment in history 186 00:09:51,670 --> 00:09:53,913 and to the physical existence of the Temple. 187 00:09:56,020 --> 00:09:56,890 But when the museum 188 00:09:56,890 --> 00:10:00,560 tried to track down the owner, it ran into a wall. 189 00:10:00,560 --> 00:10:03,083 The pomegranate had already changed hands. 190 00:10:04,320 --> 00:10:05,930 There wasn't a dealer in Israel 191 00:10:05,930 --> 00:10:07,803 who seemed to know where it was. 192 00:10:08,670 --> 00:10:11,493 The word was it had been smuggled out of the country. 193 00:10:18,470 --> 00:10:22,610 Then several years later in 1987, out of the blue, 194 00:10:22,610 --> 00:10:24,993 the museum received a mysterious phone call. 195 00:10:26,348 --> 00:10:29,765 (Man speaking in Hebrew) 196 00:10:32,080 --> 00:10:34,740 The pomegranate was now available, 197 00:10:34,740 --> 00:10:36,103 but at a price. 198 00:10:37,160 --> 00:10:38,090 (Man speaking in Hebrew) million dollar. 199 00:10:38,090 --> 00:10:39,440 Desperate to get their hands 200 00:10:39,440 --> 00:10:42,090 on this unique piece of Jewish heritage, 201 00:10:42,090 --> 00:10:44,480 the museum bartered the price down 202 00:10:44,480 --> 00:10:47,943 to just over half a million dollars in cash. 203 00:10:50,560 --> 00:10:54,260 Israel's leading expert was asked to check it out. 204 00:10:54,260 --> 00:10:56,410 When he too decided it was genuine, 205 00:10:56,410 --> 00:10:59,730 the cash, provided by an anonymous donor, 206 00:10:59,730 --> 00:11:03,173 was paid into an anonymous Swiss bank account. 207 00:11:05,680 --> 00:11:08,160 The pomegranate was returned to Jerusalem 208 00:11:08,160 --> 00:11:10,490 and there in the Israel Museum, 209 00:11:10,490 --> 00:11:12,860 along with such priceless national treasures 210 00:11:12,860 --> 00:11:16,700 as the Dead Sea Scrolls, it was given pride of place, 211 00:11:16,700 --> 00:11:19,423 an authentic link to King Solomon's Temple. 212 00:11:20,772 --> 00:11:23,939 (soft relaxing music) 213 00:11:29,310 --> 00:11:30,880 For nearly 20 years, 214 00:11:30,880 --> 00:11:33,370 it was regarded as the only physical evidence 215 00:11:33,370 --> 00:11:34,203 for the Temple. 216 00:11:39,400 --> 00:11:43,840 Then in uncannily, similar circumstances, 217 00:11:43,840 --> 00:11:48,133 another extraordinary artifact became headline news. 218 00:11:51,670 --> 00:11:54,440 In 2002, the Chief Investigator 219 00:11:54,440 --> 00:11:58,230 for the Israel Antiquities Authority, Amir Ganor, 220 00:11:58,230 --> 00:12:00,480 was given a special mission, 221 00:12:00,480 --> 00:12:03,670 to track down a brand new piece of biblical history 222 00:12:03,670 --> 00:12:05,280 that had gone missing. 223 00:12:05,280 --> 00:12:06,880 It was a hunt that would take him 224 00:12:06,880 --> 00:12:09,370 the length and breadth of the country 225 00:12:09,370 --> 00:12:10,960 and provide a major scoop 226 00:12:10,960 --> 00:12:13,143 for a young Israeli newspaper reporter. 227 00:12:14,680 --> 00:12:17,230 The story begins in 2001. 228 00:12:17,230 --> 00:12:19,970 A professor from the Jerusalem University 229 00:12:19,970 --> 00:12:22,160 receives a call from a mysterious person 230 00:12:23,310 --> 00:12:25,830 who refuses to give his real name 231 00:12:25,830 --> 00:12:29,430 and asks this professor to come to a hotel in Jerusalem. 232 00:12:29,430 --> 00:12:32,010 He arrives and another professor, 233 00:12:32,010 --> 00:12:34,377 he receives another call saying, 234 00:12:34,377 --> 00:12:36,247 "We are changing the location of the meeting. 235 00:12:36,247 --> 00:12:38,627 "Please take a taxi to a different hotel." 236 00:12:41,440 --> 00:12:43,460 A person who he has never met before 237 00:12:43,460 --> 00:12:44,993 arrives with a briefcase. 238 00:12:48,600 --> 00:12:50,100 The man with the briefcase 239 00:12:50,100 --> 00:12:53,060 claimed to be acting on behalf of a client. 240 00:12:53,060 --> 00:12:55,420 He couldn't reveal his client's identity, 241 00:12:55,420 --> 00:12:58,020 but was sure the professors would be very interested 242 00:12:58,020 --> 00:12:59,820 by what he had brought to show them. 243 00:13:00,787 --> 00:13:02,100 (soft mysterious music) 244 00:13:02,100 --> 00:13:04,430 He opens up the briefcase, 245 00:13:04,430 --> 00:13:07,710 takes out a gorgeous piece of black stone 246 00:13:07,710 --> 00:13:10,500 with a ancient writing on it 247 00:13:10,500 --> 00:13:14,323 and asked the two professors to authenticate the piece. 248 00:13:19,320 --> 00:13:21,810 The inscription on the shiny black stone 249 00:13:21,810 --> 00:13:24,970 describe repairs made to the Temple of Solomon 250 00:13:24,970 --> 00:13:28,183 by a King called Jehoash in the eighth century BC. 251 00:13:29,127 --> 00:13:31,640 (soft mysterious music continues) 252 00:13:31,640 --> 00:13:35,170 If it was genuine, it was priceless. 253 00:13:35,170 --> 00:13:38,060 Like the ivory pomegranate, it appeared to confirm 254 00:13:38,060 --> 00:13:40,970 that Solomon's Temple had actually existed. 255 00:13:40,970 --> 00:13:43,830 Better still, it provided unique confirmation 256 00:13:43,830 --> 00:13:46,193 of events described in the Old Testament. 257 00:13:47,520 --> 00:13:50,270 The professors wanted to know who the owner was 258 00:13:50,270 --> 00:13:52,227 and where the object had come from. 259 00:13:52,227 --> 00:13:54,434 (Man speaking in Hebrew) 260 00:13:54,434 --> 00:13:55,410 (Man with sunglasses speaking in Hebrew) 261 00:13:55,410 --> 00:13:57,650 All the stranger would reveal 262 00:13:57,650 --> 00:14:00,313 was that it had been found near the Temple Mount. 263 00:14:01,160 --> 00:14:02,430 They wanted to take the stone. 264 00:14:02,430 --> 00:14:03,900 They wanted to, you know, 265 00:14:03,900 --> 00:14:06,870 perform a thorough investigation of it 266 00:14:06,870 --> 00:14:10,320 and to authenticate it or reveal it as a forgery. 267 00:14:10,320 --> 00:14:13,640 The person refused, of course, to give the stone. 268 00:14:13,640 --> 00:14:16,147 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)