The dinosaur fake was a dreadful blow for supporters of the bird theory ... Its front half was a new kind of primitive bird. Fossil hunters flocked to the region where it had been found – and they struck gold. Extinct: A Horizon Guide to Dinosaurs, BBC 2011
In 2002 one very special ossuary appeared. Inscribed on the side were the words James, Son of Joseph, brother of Jesus. It was heralded as the first physical evidence of Jesus Christ and caused a worldwide sensation ... Strangely, the owner was Oded Golan. Horizon: King Solomon’s Tablet of Stone, BBC 2004
The Israeli authorities were also suspicious. They raided Golan’s apartment and store-houses. There they found the ossuary perched on a toilet. And they also unearthed the illusive stone. ibid.
The focus of their attention was the patina ... Yuval Goren is a professor of archaeology at Tel Aviv University. And a geologist. He has a detailed knowledge of both Biblical archaeology and the rocks of the Jerusalem area. ibid.
How could the patina on the front of the stone be different from that on the back? ... The patina from within the carved letters – strangely, it didn’t seem to be bonded to the stone in any natural way at all. ibid.
Alarmed by what he found with the stone, Professor Goren turned his attention to the James’ ossuary. Again he found a similar story. A freshly cut inscription with an artificial patina applied over the top. On 18th June 2003 the Israeli authorities delivered their verdict. ibid.
In the summer of 2003 after the biggest archaeological investigation in Israeli police history Oded Golan was taken into custody. It was then that investigators realised they could be dealing with more than just the stone and the ossuary. When police searched Golan’s apartment they found a hidden workshop filled with tools and half-made artefacts. ibid.
The patina is very loosely connected to the stone. Here you can see how it reacts to me scraping it with a matchstick. And you see that it easily peels off the letter as opposed to the backside. When the letters are cleared, the inner part of the letters is exposed, and as you can see here it is very freshly cut; you can see even the little lines, the little parallel lines of either the chisel or even maybe some drill, some electric bit or drill, with which the letters were engraved, which is of course very unusual for ancient inscriptions ... And therefore I believe that the inscription is not genuine. Professor Yuval Goren
It is a little Pomegranate made of the tooth of a hippopotamus ... The inscription was engraved on it when it was already broken. It is probably a fake, probably a forgery. Professor Yuval Goren, Tel Aviv University
The story begins in 2001. A professor from the Jerusalem University receives a call from a mysterious person who refuses to give his real name. And asks this professor to come to a hotel in Jerusalem ... He opens up the briefcase. Takes out a gorgeous piece of black stone with ancient writing on it, and asks the two professors to authenticate the piece. Boaz Gaon, Ma-ariv Newspaper
We couldn’t find anything that would lead us to the conclusion that it was a forgery. Dr Amnon Rosenfeld, Geological Survey of Israel
In 1980 archaeologists investigated an apparently unremarkable tomb under a building site outside Jerusalem. They found a number of ancient bone boxes or ossuaries and a series of names that sparked a sensational claim: that this unremarkable tomb could contain the remains of Jesus Christ, his family, and shocking evidence he wasn’t resurrected. But married? And that he even had a son. Lost Tomb of Jesus? Discovery 2007
‘Jesus, Son of Joseph’: this find sparked an international archaeological drama. ibid.
It was the names apparently etched on the bone-boxes inside that captivated those who formulated the sensational Jesus tomb theory. As well as the ‘Jesus, son of Joseph’ translation there were several other interpretations of names that led to the stunning suggestion Talpiut could be the family tomb of Jesus Christ. There was Maria in Hebrew, a form of Mary; another name was interpreted as Mariamne, written in Greek – perhaps another form of Mary. There was also a Jose in Hebrew, a nickname for Joseph. ibid.
But recently an ossuary appeared on the Israeli antiquities market bearing the inscription ‘James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus’ ... But subsequent investigations have cast grave doubts over the so-called James ossuary. ibid.
Even if the flawed translations are right, the apparently impressive cluster of names is actually statistically unremarkable. All of these names were common at the time. ibid.
The Talpiut tomb is buried beneath this concrete slab in a suburb on the edge of Jerusalem. ibid.
If a crucified man was buried at Talpiut, the signs would have been hard to miss. ibid.
The ossuary that was found in a burial cave contained ... three iron nails. Biblical Conspiracies: Secrets of the Crucifixion, Discovery 2015
I couldn’t believe it. Are you kidding? It’s not the same script. There’s not even a complete script design ... This thing is obviously a fake. Dr Rochelle Altman, forensic document analyst
Then, in uncannily similar circumstances, another extraordinary artefact became headline news … The man with the briefcase claimed to be acting on behalf of a client. He couldn’t reveal his client’s identity … ‘a gorgeous piece of black stone’. The Solomon Treasures, Sky 2008
The inscription on the shiny black stone described repairs made to the Temple of Solomon by a king called Jehoash in the 8th century B.C. If it was genuine, it was priceless. Like the Ivory Pomegranate it appeared to confirm that Solomon’s Temple actually existed. Better still, it provided unique confirmation of events in the Old Testament. The Professors wanted to know who the owner was and where the object had come from. All the stranger would reveal was it was found near the Temple Mount. ibid.
Analysis of the tablet by the scientists had revealed more: they found the surface contained tiny flecks of charcoal – which proved to be over two thousand years old. And they found tiny specks of gold – just what might be expected if it had survived a fire when the gold-encrusted Temple of Solomon was destroyed. ibid.
The years of detective work lead … to the home of a businessman. One of Israel’s leading antiquities collectors – Oded Golan. Golan has been collecting ancient artefacts since he was a boy. He admitted he had been helping to sell the missing stone tablet but denied he had ever been its owner. But the authorities were not convinced by the story. And what made them highly suspicious was that the same collector, Oded Golan, had recently been involved with another sensational discovery that suddenly appeared. ibid.
There are hundreds of stone boxes all dating date to the time of Jesus … They are ossuaries, receptacles for storing the bones of the dead. ibid.
In 2002 one of these ancient bone boxes became the centre of world-wide media attention ... The inscription translates as: James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus … The ancient bone-box was hailed as the final resting place for St James, the brother of Jesus of Nazareth. And the first archaeological evidence linked to Jesus himself. It caused a sensation and was viewed by nearly 100,000 people at the Royal Ontario museum in Toronto. Another extraordinary Biblical artefact. And its owner was Oded Golan. He claimed he had owned the ossuary for years. ibid.
With allegations of fakery flying around, the authorities decided to crack down. Police and Antiquities Authority agents raided Oded Golan’s home. They found an incriminating photograph of the collector clutching the missing Jehoash tablet, which he had always denied owning. They made him hand it over then confiscated the ossuary too. The artefacts and their collector were about to be subjected to intensive scrutiny. The Israel Antiquities Authority set up a task force to decide on the authenticity of both objects. In charge of the scientific investigation was Professor Yuval Goren of Tel Aviv University. He began with the stone tablet ... But when Goren examined the patina he found it was different on the front to the back of the stone. The patina on the front did indeed appear to come from Jerusalem but instead of being bonded to the stone, it lifted off quite easily. ibid.
He [Goren] concluded that someone had taken an old stone from somewhere else and carved an inscription on the front which had then been concealed under a new artificial patina. He could even see evidence that the carving was recent. And what of the ancient charcoal and traces of gold which had convinced earlier scientists? Goren concluded they had simply been added to the artificial patina applied to the front of the stone. The he turned to the Brother of Jesus Ossuary. The bone-box itself appears to be genuine. The stone was covered by a chalky patina. Just what he’d expect if it had spent many years in an underground tomb. But the patina in the grooves of the inscription was different. Like the Jehoash Tablet it was not firmly bonded to the surface. It looked as if the engraver had cut through the original patina then filled in the grooves with a new material to make it look ancient. On June 18th 2003 the Israel Antiquities Authority goes public. Both objects are declared fake. It hits the headlines worldwide. Experts who authenticated the artefacts have their names dragged through the mud. But more damning evidence comes to light when police and authority inspectors raid Oded Golan’s premises again. They find engraving tools, chemicals and soil samples taken from sites all over Israel together with scores of artefacts; many look freshly minted or half finished. ibid.
A sophisticated fraud is beginning to unravel. The scandal has provoked anxiety about every artefact supposedly from Biblical times that has come from sources or dealers unknown. Could they all be forgeries? Yuval Goren has checked scores of items that museums and collectors have acquired on the market. He has concluded that almost all of them are fake. ibid.
So it was inevitable that attention would return to that priceless object in the Israel Museum, the Ivory Pomegranate … Experts have discovered it wasn’t actually made of elephant ivory, but came from a quite different beast … ‘the tooth of a hippopotamus’. ibid.
Then he [Goren] turned his attention to the inscription ... He noticed that the grooves cut by the engraver appeared to stop short of the break … ibid.
An ancient burial box inscribed with the named James: Son of Joseph Brother of Jesus … Who was his brother James? From doubter to leader – but why has James been lost to history? Jesus Code: The Secret Brother of Jesus, Discovery 2016
Oded Golan is found guilty on two charges relating to the trade in antiquities; but when it comes to the charges of forgery he is found not guilty. ibid.
Nothing is original under the sun. Art and Craft: Mark Landis, Sky Arts 2015
I [Mark Landis] was in the habit of saying I had a sister. ibid.
I just like to copy things. It’s reassuring. ibid.
‘I found 46 museums in 20 States; but more than 100 pieces he’s offered up to these institutions.’ ibid. curator
I live by the code of The Saint ... Such a great show. ibid. Landis
Copying pictures is my gift. ibid.
‘He gave it to the museum for free.’ ibid. rozzer