Posted on 11/14/2005 1:40:50 PM PST by blam
Jehoash tablet said found near Muslim cemetery
By Nadav Shragai
The inscription attributed to King Jehoash whose discovery was announced earlier this week was reportedly found near Jerusalem's Muslim cemetery, outside the eastern wall of the Temple Mount, not far from Golden Gate, according to information obtained by Ha'aretz.
Jehoash ruled in Jerusalem at the end of the ninth century B.C.E. The inscription has been authenticated by the National Infrastructure Ministry's Geological Survey of Israel.
Three different people and institutions involved in examining the stone told Ha'aretz that representatives of the collector who owns the stone told them it was found near the Muslim cemetery. One added that he was told it had been found following a landslide or flood.
Prof. Yosef Naveh of Hebrew University of Jerusalem, a well-known expert on the development of the alphabet, said agents of the collector brought it to him for inspection in 2001. He said he was asked to meet the agents in a Jerusalem hotel room, where he found two people: a man who introduced himself as Tzur and "an Arab youth who never opened his mouth the entire time, so I don't know his name. [Tzur] told me where the stone was found [near the Muslim cemetery] and even speculated that the stone had actually come from the inner sections of the Temple Mount, but that its finders - Palestinian Muslims - were afraid to say so, due to the religious-political sensibilities of the compound."
Tzur, Naveh continued, "made me promise not to mention [the stone] or talk about it with anyone, because the life of the Palestinian who found and sold it would be endangered," and he indeed refrained from mentioning the inscription until it was made public by the Geological Survey and reported in Ha'aretz, which he considered sufficient to release him from his promise. He said he soon plans to publish his conclusions about the inscription - which he believes is a forgery.
Another person who examined the inscription said he was also told it had been found near the Muslim cemetery, not far from Golden Gate. He said the "courier" who brought it to him seemed very nervous and was constantly checking to make sure that no representatives of the Antiquities Authority were present. "He was very afraid the artifact would be taken from him, and throughout the tests we conducted, he wandered around ceaselessly, in great tension."
Both Naveh and the other two people who inspected the inscription said the collector's representatives refused to leave the stone during the examinations, which lasted for a few hours each time, and also refused to leave it there for lengthier tests.
GGG Ping.
Is this related to the other thread?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1521967/posts
But what does the stone say?..............
But Naveh thinks it is a forgery? The behavior of the two who disclosed their discovery is not indicative of collusion of any sort. I wish whoever found it had left it where it was originally and sold that secret instead. It would be very interesting indeed if it did come from the Dome.
Fascinating, blam. Thanks for keeping us up to date.
Could these be the stones commishioned by King Jehoash after the rediscovery of the Book of the Law?
Museum Curators Just Say No
The so-called Jehoash Tablet has undergone similar scrutiny and skepticism. The black stone tablet inscribed with Phoenician script refers to repairs ordered by King Jehoash, similar to passages in the Second Book of Kings.
The tablet's owner, also said to be Oded Golan, previously offered to sell it to the Israel Museum, but curators turned down the offer after examining the fragment, questioning its authenticity without saying that the writing was a forgery, according to an article by Nadav Shragai published in the Israeli daily Ha'aretz in January 2003.
Officials at the National Infrastructure Ministry's Geological Survey of Israel, the agency that examined the tablet, asserted their tests were conclusive: No forgery would pass such extensive testing. If the inscription is authentic, the stone fragment could support Jewish claims to the Temple Mount, Shragai wrote.
Gabriel Barkai, a leading Israeli archaeologist from Bar Ilan University, told Shragai that if the tablet were authentic, it would be a first-of-its kind piece of physical evidence describing events in a manner that adheres to the narrative in the Bible.
In his conversation with Ha'aretz, Barkai noted: "[T]he problem here is that circumstances of the finding are not clear… .We should wait for the official scientific publication, at which time we will be able to probe this finding carefully. Right now, of course, we can't rule out any possibility. It's too bad that a matter of this sort was kept under wraps, apparently due to business concerns."
Other articles:
A stone tablet could be a relic of King Solomon's temple -- or a clever forgery.
The following url gives a complete description of the tablet:
Another really neat 20th century forgery?
"Recent developments:
The stone was accidentally broken during shipment to an Israeli police station, even though it was protected by two layers of bubble wrap and placed inside a box. Osnat Guez, spokeswoman for the Antiquities Authority, said that the damage to the stone could be helpful, because it would enable scientists to study the inner layers of the stone to determine its age.
An antiquities collector who turned in the stone, Oded Golan, has refused to say where he obtained the tablet. He says that he does not own it himself."
"But what does the stone say?.............."
We've got stones here in Kentucky if you go up to one and ask "What are you doing?"...it'll say "nothing".
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HMMMM, I hadn't thought about that! Definately could be! They might have something written that is not to be revealed yet! Usually when there is some newly translated inscription on an artifact, it is reported.......
You've got people in Kentucky that go 'round talkin' to stones?.........
"You've got people in Kentucky that go 'round talkin' to stones?........."
Moonshine makes you do the funniest things!
and in KY the #1 cash crop is GRASS, and I DON'T mean BLUEGRASS!.........
Jewish holy site!
Move the Muslim cemetary!
That I wouldn't doubt...damn hippies!
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I saw a show about this on History Channel. I thought they said the guy involved with this was the same guy involved with the “Ossuary of James” fraud. The show came down strongly on the side this is a forgery.
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