Great Photos of Vinkovci’s Roman Vessels

From Current World Archaeology: More pictures of the Roman silver vessels recently discovered in Vinkovci, Croatia, have been sent to CWA by Geoarheo, the commercial unit that excavated the hoard. ‘The location of the silver hoard itself was fortunate as it was found in the few square meters of the entire site that remained untouched [...]

Google Honors Howard Carter

Today Google honors Howard Carter, the famous archaeologist who discovered Tutankhamun’s tomb.  A little known fact about this: Howard Carter is the man who sparked my interest in ancient history. When I was just a child, I remember getting a book on ancient Egyptian society and in the book was a small blurb about Howard [...]

The Qeiyafa Discovery and King David: The Da Vinci Connection

Perhaps you have not heard but there has been some new buzz in the field over some shrines that were discovered.  Here is a snippet of the recent press release: Jerusalem, May 8, 2012—Prof. Yosef Garfinkel, the Yigal Yadin Professor of Archaeology at the Institute of Archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, announced today [...]

The Trial of Oded Golan is Over: The Verdict is In

Oded Golan has been found innocent.  Here is the important part (emphasis mine): The District Court in Jerusalem acquitted Golan of all charges of forgery and fraud. The judge, Aharon Farkash, convicted him only of minor charges of selling antiquities without a permit and possession of items suspected to be stolen. In his decision, the [...]

Bob Cargill Destroys the Jonah/Fish Argument

Absolutely definitive evidence of photo manipulation in order to support a conclusion. The whole ‘fish’ interpretation is completely blown away by this article. Outstanding work, once more, from Bob Cargill! Unfortunately, if we take into account the visual evidence that has been omitted, and we acknowledge the digital manipulations that have been committed to the [...]

A Possible Handle on Image 5 of the Amphora?

The other day while writing my post up using Rahmani’s catalog, I noticed something in image 5 from the Jesus Discovery website.  I went ahead and highlighted the image: It is faint, but it looks like it belongs to the rest if the iconography.  Now compare that to my posted images courtesy of Rahmani and [...]

Again – It’s Not a Fish…and Stop using Doctored Photos!

I just received this image in an email from someone (who I shall not name): First, the image you’re using is the GCI’d (re: doctored) image.  It’s not the actual photo of the iconography. Second, you have it oriented incorrectly.  It isn’t oriented sideways (Simcha is really to blame for this since he produced a [...]

Anecdotal Evidence Isn’t Really Evidence

It appears that Simcha, or those with him, really wants this completely CGI’d image of an actual amphora/unguentarium ossuary iconography–wrongly oriented even in their header below–to be a fish: I mean they really, really want this to be a fish.  Some members of the ‘Christian fish cohort’ (descriptors fail me today) have gone so far [...]

The Tomb of Jesus or the Beatles? Mark Goodacre on Talpiot A and B

Fantastic article and very clever.  Check it out on ASOR.  Here is a snippet: The current discussion of Talpiot Tomb B, the “patio tomb”, has largely centered on the interpretation of the picture on one of the ossuaries.  But Tabor’s and Jacobovici’s argument that this tomb is linked with Jesus and his disciples is related [...]

New Roundup on the ‘Jesus Discovery’ (AKA the ‘Jonah and the Whale’ ossuary)

Since my last roundup, much has transpired. It seems that there were some predispositions towards finding ‘Jonah and the Whale’ on an ossuary.  Both Mark Goodacre and David Meadows (via Goodacre) found evidence of this and have posted some compelling information.  If this is the case, one should not be so surprised by the ‘discovery’ [...]