BAR Editor Charged with Pivotal Role in Fraud and Forgery

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Suspicions Confirmed

Professor Yuval Goren, former chairman of Tel Aviv University’s Institute of Archaeology and the dominating scientific member of the committees of the Israel Antiquities Authority that found the James Ossuary inscription and the ivory pomegranate inscription to be forgeries, has accused BAR editor Hershel Shanks of criminal involvement in the forgery. BAR and Shanks have defended the authenticity of both inscriptions.

The ossuary, or bone box, is inscribed, “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus.”

The ivory pomegranate is inscribed, “(Belonging) to the Temple of [Yahwe]h; holy to the priests.” If authentic, this would appear to be the only surviving relic from Solomon’s Temple.

The court proceedings Goren refers to in the e-mail printed above is the forgery trial that originally was brought against five defendants. Two have been dismissed. A third pleaded guilty to a minor offense not involving forgery. The remaining two defendants are Oded Golan, a Tel Aviv collector who owns the ossuary, and Robert Deutsch, a Tel Aviv antiquities dealer and the author of several books on ancient inscriptions. The trial has now been going on for nearly four years.

Both the ossuary inscription and the pomegranate inscription received their first English publication in BAR.1

We print the email in which Goren makes the accusations against Shanks:

From: Yuval Goren 
Sent: Thursday, September 25, 2008 4:34 AM
To: Hershel Shanks
Subject: Following court

Shalom Hershel,

I follow everything that happens in court. I know you do too.

Given the most recent testimony and the details that were exposed there about you, I decided to withdraw my invitation for a meal again during the ASOR meeting. I don’t want any further contact with you and please do not call me. By the details that were exposed in court during the last two or three months, your pivotal role in the fraud becomes crystal clear. I am sure that sooner or later the protocols of these testimonies will become public and the last few colleagues who still think that you are not involved in the crime will see the truth that I always suspected, but now became evident.

Yuval

Prof. Yuval Goren

Laboratory for Comparative Microarchaeology

Institute of Archaeology and the Department of Archaeology and ANE Civilizations

Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel