Moses Wilhelm Shapira, Hermann Weser and the Moab Expedition: Provenance Study of the Moabitica

The 1870s case of the archaeological forgeries attributed to Jerusalem antiquities dealer Moses Wilhelm Shapira continues to provoke interest. This article examines the association of the Moabitica, marketed by Shapira, to their Moabite origin using the modern scientific methods of ceramic petrography and X-ray fluorescence. The results serve, in turn, to illuminate an unanswered question raised by the historical account of the German explorers’ provisional delegation to Moab. The delegation traced the sources of the Moabitica antiquities in an attempt to locate additional Moabitica in situ where they had allegedly been found. The historical account is unclear as to whether this research trip was also part of the conspiracy organised by the Jerusalem counterfeiters or whether it solely involved a workshop and a team acting east of the Dead Sea. Combining the historical narrative and the geoarchaeological analysis, the affair is examined from a perspective never before undertaken.