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James Tabor / UNCC
A replica of the "Jonah Fish" bone box, on display at Discovery Times Square in New York, shows a fishlike figure on the left side of the box's front. Small fish figures are inscribed in a border along the top of the box. The right side of the box's front is incomplete because that area was obscured by an adjacent bone box.
The debate over a 1st-century "Jesus Discovery" tomb that may, or may not, contain the earliest known evidence of Christian iconography has taken on some of the fervor of a holy war, with some scriptural scholars protesting what they see as the "Da Vinci Codification" of modern culture.
The controversy focused on whether a fishlike figure carved into one of the limestone bone boxes from the Jerusalem tomb was really meant to be a fish — or something else. It's a key point, because fish have historically been seen as early Christian symbols, and such symbols have not previously been found on Jerusalem bone boxes.
"The 'Jonah Fish' is just the next installment in the Jesus-archaeology franchise — timed, as always, to precede a major Christian feast," Steven Fine, director of Yeshiva University's Center for Israel Studies, complained in a posting to the ASOR Blog, which is published by the American Schools of Oriental Research. "I, for one, am wearied by the almost yearly 'teaching moment' presented by these types of 'discoveries.' I am hopeful, however, that — this time — a forceful and quick display of unanimous dissent by the leading members of the academic community will be taken seriously by the media and the public at large."
The underground chamber, known as the Patio Tomb because it lies beneath the patio of a present-day condo building, was explored a couple of years ago with the aid of a camera-equipped robotic arm. The project came into the global spotlight this week with the publication of "The Jesus Discovery," a book about the finds made there.
A documentary TV show, reportedly titled "The Resurrection Tomb," is due to air on the Discovery Channel this spring. It's not yet clear whether that show will be broadcast around the time of Easter Sunday, which falls on April 8 this year (April 15 for Orthodox Christians).
Discovery Times Square
In addition to the "Jonah Fish" bone box, investigators examined a different limestone bone box that had an inscription scrawled in the central area of the front face. They interpreted the third line of the inscription as referring to "lifting up" or resurrection. Such a reference could be read as a statement of faith. This is a replica of the casket that is on display at Discovery Times Square in New York.
This week's claims about the Christian character of the bone boxes seen in the Patio Tomb have attracted sharp criticism from outside experts. The tone of the debate has become so sharp that one of the scriptural scholars behind the discovery, James Tabor of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, appealed today for an end to the "personal innuendos and ugly charges about greed and corruption."
"I ask my fellow bloggers in our field to circulate this call for a change in our tone and approach to one another," he wrote on his own blog. "Enough is enough. ..."
One of Tabor's partners in the tomb study is Rami Arav, an Israeli-born archaeologist at the University of Nebraska at Omaha who has directed excavations in Israel for more than two decades. Arav told me today that the controversy over the findings was not unexpected.
"Whenever you make a pioneering discovery ... there will always be questions about the interpretation of what you see, particularly when things are not unequivocal," he said. "My philosophy in this kind of thing is that a good theory ... is elegant and solves more problems than it creates."
Bebeto Matthews / AP
Biblical scholar James Tabor glances over at replicas of two bone boxes found in Jerusalem's Patio Tomb during a Tuesday news conference at Discovery Times Square. A camera-equipped robotic arm like the one seen here was used to examine the boxes remotely.
Believing a fish story
For some, the claims about the "Jonah Fish" constitute a big problem. Tabor, Arav and another partner, documentary filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici, have suggested that the figure alludes to the biblical story of the prophet Jonah, who was swallowed by a sea creature and vomited up alive three days later. That story held extra significance for Christians, who believed Jesus died on the cross and rose from his tomb on the third day.
The critics of the "Jesus Discovery" team say they're not swallowing the fish story. Instead, they maintain that the figure depicts a type of funerary pillar or tower, known as a "nephesh tower," or perhaps an amphora or vase. Some experts included pictures from other bone boxes, showing nephesh towers with pointed roofs.
Arav and Tabor said they had considered the interpretation of the picture as a tower or a vase, but decided that the fish made more sense. "If we suggest it could have been a tower, then we would have to put the ossuary upside down," Arav said. "This doesn't have any precedent, and I think this is even more problematic than saying it is a fish."
The team's video examination of the box also spotted several small, simple fish figures carved into an ornamental border around the main figure.
"It creates problems which I indeed don't think are problems," Arav said. "We know that the Jonah motif appears later on, but that doesn't mean that it began later on. This is not a real problem."
Jacobovici told me that he put the picture to the "Mishi test," named after his 5-year-old daughter. When he heard that some experts were suggesting that the picture showed a tower, he called Mishi over to take a look. "I said, 'What do you see here, sweetie?' She looks very intense, and says, 'A person inside a fish?'" Jacobovici recalled. "It passed the Mishi test."
Why fuss over a fish?
What difference does it make whether the picture shows a fish or a tower? The eventual outcome of the debate could have a big impact on the course of biblical archaeology. If the iconography is determined to be Christian, that would lend much more significance to what otherwise might be seen as a run-of-the-mill Jewish tomb.
What's more, Tabor and Jacobovici contend that the discovery of a Christian tomb strengthens their far more controversial claim, first made in 2007, that bone boxes in a nearby tomb might contain the earthly remains of Jesus and members of his family. The investigators reached that conclusion based on the names inscribed on the boxes, and their similarity to the names listed in biblical accounts of Jesus' brothers and sisters. Tabor says additional studies published since 2007 have strengthened his case, but other scholars are unconvinced.
Arav isn't getting involved in the debate over the "Jesus Family Tomb." But he does want to return to the Patio Tomb and go beyond the fishy debate. "We did non-invasive research in this place, and we discovered what we discovered," Arav said. "But we need also to do some invasive research."
Current estimates suggest that the Patio Tomb was used sometime between 20 B.C. and A.D. 70, when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans. Arav would like to get a better sense of the date, and perhaps run DNA tests on the remains "to see if they are associated with groups of people that we know of." It might also be possible to run tests on a cooking pot that was brought out from the tomb years ago, "to see what was offered to the dead," he said.
"There are a lot of things that hard science can help us with," Arav observed. "There are a lot of things to do."
More about bone boxes and biblical archaeology:
- New find revives 'Jesus Tomb' debate
- Doubts voiced about the 'Jesus Discovery'
- 2007: Claims about Jesus' tomb stir up a tempest
- Ancient bone box might point to Caiaphas' home
- Gallery: The archaeology of Christianity
Replicas of bone boxes from the Patio Tomb and the Jesus Family Tomb are on display at Discovery Times Square in New York City, which is also hosting an exhibit about the Dead Sea Scrolls and daily life in biblical times. The exhibit runs through April 15.
Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter or adding Cosmic Log's Google+ page to your circle. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for other worlds.
Leave a Comment:
TomTheChristianSlayer is looking for a ban. Let me see if I can help him.
Oh!! get over yourself already...
Please do Greg. In fact better yet, someone needs to remove that piece of garbage from the face of the planet.
I just saw these ossuaries at the Discovery Times Square Exhibit! The Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit is really amazing and you should really try to check it out if you have the chance. I spent almost an hour debating with my co-worker about what this means for Christianity and Judaism. hahah It's pretty crazy that the simple images and inscriptions lead to such HUGE conclusions about the use of the ossuary...
Sometimes a fisherman's tomb is just a fisherman's tomb...
Exactlt. You can speculate all you want but what are the chances of finding proof? Most likely nill. If you really want to find something and become obsessed with it you will find something to fit the bill.
Turn the depiction of the "fish" upside down and you will have a rough drawing of a spaceship with the face of a human at the helm. That's all there is to it.
Now what will really set the Christian world a tumblin' is the soon to be discovered tomb of Peter (the one they call saint.) His body is not buried in Rome. Never was. Peter never even went to Rome. Near his final resting place they will also find the tomb of Jesus' mother. She did not "assume" her body into the heavens. Catholic teaching will be revealed once and for all to be false, and that there is no basis for the catholic church except that it is a secular empire using the name of Jesus, and a God, to control the people into submission. Hang on everybody, this is gonna get wild!!!
I will never understand why people do this kind of thing. It clearly looks like an urn of some sort. It just proves that people have a great imagination and will believe what they want to believe to promote their own reasons. It looks like a 3rd grade drawing, but maybe that family could not afford an artisan at the time. What ever it is, I have no idea why it should generate such a fervor. Unreal.
the comments suggest that a lot of people our looking at the wrong part of the box,its the little fish like Jesus symbols around the upper side,there is five of them.
ok now I see, they look like Jebus fishes
The fish proves nothing. The Essenes called themselves the little fishes. Some say John the Baptist was an Essene.
Like the real archeologist said on the man's reality show.
You're not naked and you're not an archaeologist
Roger Ramjet? Ever been to Mactan? Sorry to rain a bit on your parade but Hitler was no Atheist. He was baptized and received his confirmation in the Catholic Church. He later became godfather to Gorings children. He always commented that it was God that appointed or annointed him to be leader of the German people. The Catholic church made a concordat with the Reich (Hitler) that allowed them to keep their relgious schools in Germany. In return the church ordered all its clergy and other workers in the Germen church to swear a personal oath to the Reich (Hitler) and not to become involved in anything political. The Pope then blessed Hitler for his fight against Communism and told the German people to obey the Reich (Hitler). Neither Hitler nor any of his Nazi Catholic henchmen were ever excommunicated by the Catholic Church. As to these discoveries, too little real data has been obtained to determined just what has been found. The sign of the fish was used by early Christians but it was a horizontal sign while this one appears to be vertical. Very doubtful it is a fish. As to whether Jesus exisited, there is no proof that there was a person named Jesus. The only writings about him come from the Bible and no Roman records or Jewish records speak of him. Also, there is nothing he wrote that has survived which is extremely strange because according to the Bible he attended school. However, he is not the only religious figure that there is no proof that he existed. There is nothing written about the Buddha from his times proving that he existed. Everything about him was written 300 years after his death. Nothing also survives that he wrote himself although we know that he also went to school. The difference of course it that for Christians it is absolutely imperative that a real Jesus existed whereas with Buddhists they depend upon the Dharma (teachings) and not the personage of the Buddha.
From a simple "what do I see" point of view, I think it does look like a fish (tail, fins, scales, and mouth) but could also be a vase (round base, and handles). It seems there is also small fishes carved on the border.
The interpretation of the carving is a whole other story tho and don't know if it could actually be christian or not.
Pointless debate. Yes, there were Christians in the region during the 1st century C.E. What's the big deal? Christianity began as a sect within Judaism. It should come as no surprise that someone would find a relic decorated with a Christian motif. This is trivia. The person who decorated the relic is long dead, so we can't get a definitive answer as to what the design means. Heck, for all we know the "fish" could be a UFO, with a space alien descending from it or rising into it. It's a mildly enigmatic artifact. Display it in a museum and move on.
There are so many people that say religion and science doesn't fit together. Why does a Science Editor have an article on a religious relic in his column?
When Genesis tells people about a process to the start of our universe a few thousand years ago and scientists have a theory that follows Genesis almost to the letter today, is there something here, or is this merely modern scientists with religious backgrounds making up how the Universe began?
When we travel to the outer planets in this solar system and find the laws of the Universe fit there as they do here at home and then we see back in time billions of years ago through Hubble and those galaxies we see follow the same rules we have here at home, does that mean there is nothing different out "there" than there is "here"?
Are all elements the same and is life so similar we look for it now elsewhere and believe it to be out there? If oxygen and water sustains life here, will it out there? If methane and heat sustain life here, will it out there?
People fight over their basic thought: God created the Universe. The Universe created God.
So far, we know all rules are the same throughout the Universe and if God made the Universe certainly we are all made in His image according to the Bible.
If the Universe made Him, then certainly it made us the same as God's image, being as everything is the same throughout the Universe.
Maybe Science and Religion are one and the same as all in the Universe is one and the same. I think we can no longer fight about religion vs science.
Ya, don't you worry your pretty little head about it
" and scientists have a theory that follows Genesis almost to the letter today"
No, NOT to the letter. That is the problem. It is the people who need it to be literally tue who can't deal with science. Genesis is vaguely similar to reality in that the world began and there had to be land before animals could walk on it. But Genesis has nothing to suggest either the vast amounts of time or the process.
Why do folks who are against religion harbor content for Jesus. I mean Jesus!! Its the religious figures who cruxified Him. Ya'll are only more confounded by facts. smh
Science points to God....Duuuh. Ironic how intelligence can be your worst enemy. Cmon people, get rid of those milk teeth.
There is soooo no God. It's turtles all the way down
FYI: Jock, in between line 1 and 2 of Genesis is your "vast amount of time". Cmon guys/ right under your nose. Psalm 90:4
@Delfairchild
"...scientists have a theory that follows Genesis almost to the letter today"...
Have you ever even read Genesis?!?! Every part of it is scientifically wrong. Its amazing how all of our planets, (in just OUR solar system alone), can form within a few days. With ours being able to sustain various forms of life, right off-the-bat, no less. Amazing!!
It's a fake, a hoax, or a myth. Just like the shroud of Turin or any of the dozen times somebody has claimed to find Noah's Ark.
Anyone who believes a man could survive inside a fish for three days is a little whacked to begin with. Even if it is a drawing of a fish throwing up a man, all it proves is someone believed the tales in the old testament.
The writer of this article is either weak on his syntax or doesn't understand Christian history.
"...the figure alludes to the biblical story of the prophet Jonah, who was swallowed by a sea creature and vomited up alive three days later. That story held extra significance for Christians, who believed Jesus died on the cross and rose from his tomb on the third day."
Written this way, it seems to suggest that Jonah's ordeal and Christ's resurrection occurred on the same day ("the third day" written in immediate juxtaposition) Jonah lived almost 800 years before Christ. The the number 3 is used in a specific way throughout scripture, and the numerology can be discussed, but no one has ever suggested that Christ and Jonah were contemporaries.
As for the general tone of the article, of course it is anti-Christian. It would be foolish to expect any different in supposedly "scientific" environment. And, as usual, Simka Jacobovici's input is interesting but inconsistent.
Poppycock. Your statement made me finally go and actually read the little article. Nothing anti-Christian (or pro-Christian) about it. Methinks you're just another religionist who's afraid that his own reason and common sense will overcome his favorite superstition. That's what Me thinks.
Perceiving "tone" goes beyond literal reading. It requires an understanding of the subject matter. And you are obviously not qualified to think, you little putz. Go whizz on someone else's leg.
Piffle, I say. Balderdash. Stuff and nonsense; there is no tone in that article to perceive - you have imagined it from your own silly paraniod mind. Go and rinse my pee off your leg.
a man lives in a fish for 3 days, Noahs Ark, talking snakes and donkeys, dinosaurs never existed, believes the world is 6,000 years old but uses fossil fuels every day... teach children to be accepting of other cultures, as long as they're christian... impregnated a virgin, became human, then sacrificed myself to myself, to save you from myself... are you there god? it's you jesus.... ya, seems legit LOL
Thank God a billion or so people that have had to swallow the fish story that an immaculately conceived direct descendant of God died and was resurrected, can now face the truth that their religion is mythology manipulated and controlled by power hungry parasites. Welcome back to sanity Christians.