Steven Carr

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/prog...on_trans.shtml is where it can be read

' If it is a forgery, then the forger must have been a near genius as far as the level of sophistication that we find in this inscription.'........

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For a site on the rock try here.

This is another attempt to sell a modern forgery as an ancient original by Oded Golan, famous for the James the brother of Jesus ossuary fake. Others are starting to come to light from the same stable.

I liked the accompanying link to the programme, Q & A.


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Steven Carr

The question and answer page says 'They are now suggesting that everything which came on to the antiquities market in Israel in the last 20 years without a clear and unambiguous provenance should be considered a fake unless proven otherwise.'

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Given the vast improvements in modern technology which are available to the forger, I can see no other way than at least putting them in the too hot to handle basket. Unprovenanced artefacts simply can't give the security that an object found in situ can. (There of course one could always plant an object to be found by some unsuspecting archaeologist, but that is much harder than one might suspect: the archaeologist knows all about disturbed contexts.)


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