Biblical Events and Environments - Authentification of Controversial Archaeological Artifacts

In this article, we survey the verification tests made on several controversial Biblical archaeological artifacts through the analysis of the nature of their patina coatings. The combined methods of surface examination described below, were applied to examine the authenticity includes a burial box (ossuary) attributed to James the brother of Jesus, a stone tablet bearing a paleo-Hebrew inscription attributed to King Jehoash of Judah, an ivory pomegranate bearing a paleo-Hebrew dedication inscription, and two Iron Age ostraca, attributed to the Solomonic Temple. These items are most likely authentic archaeological artifacts, whereas the authenticity of the inscriptions found on them, making them unique and historically extremely significant, is controversial.The analytical methods reviewed here to test authenticity are based on combination of surface examinations, optical mineralogy, geochemistry and stable isotope oxygen (δ¹⁸O) and carbon (δ¹³C) analyses. The isotopic composition of the patina coating the inscription of the James Ossuary, the Jehoash inscription and the ostraca, differs from all other measured natural patinas, indicating that their patina could not form under the natural conditions that prevailed in Israel during the last 3000 years. Thus, it is suggested that the patina was artificially prepared and it clearly calls into question the antiquity of the inscriptions engraved on these items. In the case of the Ivory pomegranate, the isotopic composition of the patina could not serve as a measure to either contradict or verify the authenticity of the patina coating the item; other microscopic and geochemical methods were shown to be more useful in determining its authenticity.