Posted on 12/24/2004 4:46:11 AM PST by foolscap
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A tiny ivory pomegranate once believed to be the only relic of King Solomon's biblical era Jewish Temple turns out not to be an artifact from the holy shrine, the Israel Museum said on Friday. Israeli experts have determined the thumb-sized object is a lot older than believed, dating to the 13th or 14th Century BC, rather than to the 8th Century BC, which scholars say was around the time of Solomon.
Israeli archaeologists had authenticated the item in 1988, believing it had been smuggled out of Israel nine years earlier. The museum bought it for more than $500,000 from an unknown owner who was paid through a numbered Swiss bank account.
Researchers then thought the pomegranate was an ornamental top for a priest's scepter, based in part on an inscription which read: "Belonging to the Temple of the Lord (Yahweh), holy to the priests."
But in a statement on Friday, the museum said a new examination it conducted with the Israel Antiquities Authority found the inscription was a forgery. "The object itself dates to the Late Bronze Period but its inscription is not ancient."
The fake engraving is the latest of a series of scams uncovered recently in Israel involving archaeological finds.
Last year, an inscription on an ancient burial box that had led experts to believe it held the remains of Jesus' brother James, was found to be a forgery
link doesn't seem to work.
The media will be falling all over themselves to try and discredit the latest archaeological find. They can't have folks thinking about Jesus actually perfoming miracles, or that THIS is where he did them!
Just because the artifact was older, doesn't mean it wasn't used in the Temple and part of Solomon's treasure. How old was the inscription?
I don't recall hearing that fact.
MM
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