“The Lost Tomb of Jesus” Debate Continues

The Talpiot tomb as it is known was first unearthed on March 28, 1980, as the result of a construction project. The next day after its discovery, the site was visited by the area supervisor for the Israel Antiquities Authority. Kloner then requested a permit for a salvage dig which was directed by Yosef Gath. Although the Discovery Channel reported that the tomb was in East Talpiot, the actual location of the tomb is located in the Armon HaNatziv neighborhood of Jerusalem. Upon hearing of the discovery of the tomb The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) assigned the tomb the designation of IAA-80, and the ten ossuaries found inside were catalogued with the numbers 500-509.

Of the ten ossuaries discovered, six of the ossuaries contained inscriptions. The six inscriptions mention seven individuals including: Yeshua bar Yehosef, Aramaic for "Jesus son of Joseph", Maria, written in Aramaic script, but a Latin form of the Hebrew name "Miriam" ("Mary") , Yose, a diminutive of "Joseph" mentioned as the name of one of Jesus's brothers in the New Testament (Mark 6:3), Yehuda bar Yeshua, Possibly Aramaic for "Judah son of Jesus", Mariamene e Mara. suggested by scholars as Mariamene, or Mariamne, the actual name of Mary Magdalene, Matya, Hebrew for 'Matthew' . On March 4, 2007, the Discovery Channel aired “The Lost Tomb of Jesus”. The documentary was produced by James Cameron and directed by Simcha Jacobovici. Jacobovici claims that one of the ten ossuaries should be identified as that of Mary Magdalene. Jacobovici views the inclusion of Mary Magdalene's ossuary in the family tomb of Jesus as proof that she and Jesus were married. The fact that all ten of the ossuaries contained human bones has led Jacobovici and his associates to interpret the findings as proof that Jesus had not risen from the dead as the New Testament describes. When the documentary first aired many scholars immediately criticized the program, saying it contradicted much of what we know historically.

A scholarly conference organized in Jerusalem by the Princeton Theological Seminary to assess the likelihood that the Talpiot tomb is indeed the tomb of Jesus. has sparked a second wave of controversy. It is unfortunate that the field of archaeology is strongly influenced by what we call "minimalists" which do not believe the scriptures and view them as nothing more than fairy tells.