I don’t know if coins were used in the Jewish burial rites at the time. Perhaps some FReeper could chip in.
The technology expended on this shroud is telling. A grasping world searching for a tangible link to the intangible. This shroud is too another icon that needs to be put away while we, should search out our hearts for the Spirit that can dwell within each and every one of us.
The technology expended on this shroud is telling. A grasping world searching for a tangible link to the intangible. This shroud is too another icon that needs to be put away while we, should search out our hearts for the Spirit that can dwell within each and every one of us.
I don’t know if coins were used in the Jewish burial rites at the time. Perhaps some FReeper could chip in.
I did some poking around and found this.
“It all began at NASA in 1978. At this time researchers Jackson, Jumper and Stephenson wanted to test the capacities of their VP8 new computer, specially for three dimensional extrapolation, so they submitted the face on the shroud for analysis. The image obtained, now famous, distinctly revealed two circular protrusions on the eyelids. The experts immediately made a connection with an ancient custom which advocated the placing of coins on the eyes of the dead to keep them closed. Archaeological excavations have confirmed this tradition. Skeletons from the first and second century C.E. have been found with a coin in each eye-socket at Jericho and at En Boqeq.”
Source:
http://www.numismalink.com/fontanille4.html
Coins or potsherds were used to keep the eyes closed in death. The use of coins was picked up from the Greek occupation, but the practice of potsherds was quite well established. Skulls from a 1st Century Jewish burials in a Jerusalem Cemetery were found to have a either sherds or coins in some of the eye sockets when excavated. The majority found with one or the other had potsherds, but a fairly large percentage were found with small denomination coins in the sockets.