NewsLeading Israeli Scientist Declares Pomegranate Inscription Authentic Talkback Add Your Comment
If the inscription is authentic, the pomegranate is probably the only surviving artifact from Solomon’s Temple. Professor Yitzhak Roman of the Hebrew University examined the pomegranate under a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) to reach his conclusions. In the 1990s he was the academic director of Hebrew University’s SEM. A committee led by Tel Aviv University’s Yuval Goren had previously concluded that the inscription was a forgery because three critical letters adjacent to an ancient break stopped before the break. The forger was apparently fearful of breaking off more of the pomegranate if he went too close to this fracture. The pomegranate itself is admittedly genuine. However, Professor Roman’s examination showed that the three critical letters, contrary to Yuval Goren’s finding, did in fact go into the ancient break. This was the same conclusion reached by an examination of the pomegranate at the Israel Museum sponsored by the Biblical Archaeology Society on May 3, 2007: The three letters clearly go into the break. In addition, Professor Roman examined the patina inside the letters of the inscription. The committee that found the inscription to be a forgery had concluded that this patina was somehow glued into the surviving letters of the inscription. Professor Roman found 11 different elements (some just trace amounts) in the natural patina. But he found no evidence that the patina had been glued. Whether anyone will ask Professor Goren for his reaction to Professor Roman’s devastating report is not yet known. Read Professor Roman’s original report in Hebrew, complete with pictures and diagrams. Read the English translation of Professor Roman’s report. Read the detailed report of the ivory pomegranate inscription from the Biblical Archaeology Society’s May 2007 meeting at the Israel Musueum. Read the Biblical Archaeology Society’s report on the conference it sponsored to consider the authenticity of five well-known artifacts, including the ivory pomegramate. Read “A Committee of One: Yuval Goren,”—a commentary by Hershel Shanks on the committee that found the pomegranate inscription to be a forgery.
Yuval GorenYuval Goren manifests the values and ethics of Jezebel, the goal is to bring chaos to order, destruction to scientific growth. Until he gets the help he needs, the BAR should shun him. billhalle@optonline.net • • • • • • • Who found the Pomegranate?Can you tell me how the Pomegranate was found? By Whom, when? • • • • • • • Ron WyattI always believed Ron Wyatt found this ivory pomegranate in a cave under The Garden Tomb. • • • • • • • Almond Bud TheoryRegarding the theory of the Almond Bud versus the Pomegranate: Almond flowers have 5 petals whereas pomegranates have 6 protrusions at their tip, as with the ivory in question. Just an observation. Pace, Kimberlee • • • • • • • Ivory PomegranateI wonder if they all have it wrong. That is not an ivory pomegranate. It is an ivory almond bud! It represents Aaron’s rod that budded, and was one of the three items placed in the Ark. The almond buds on Aaron’s rod confirmed the priesthood as clearly describ3ed in the Bible. The almond bud has a lot more to do with the priesthood of Solomon’s Temple then the pomegranate which was only frill on the robe. • • • • • • • pomegranateIt would seem to me that the default position for a large number of scholars is to deny the authenticity of artifacts. We all know that there are forgeries from time to time, but why is it that there is this bias against authenticity? Fortunately, there are careful scholars who keep working to demonstrate how wrong these naysayers really are. But one wonders if the latter will ever learn from their mistakes. Would it not be more profitable to, after careful and cautious observations, come down on the side of authenticity unless there is clear evidence to the contrary? In my mind it would reinforce the desire to dig more instead of having the prevailing attitude: "Well, it's probably going to be deemed a fake so why bother?" • • • • • • • Historical Anomaly adn the New ChronologyThe current authentication of the ivory pomegranate artifact is probably one of the best proofs for the New Chronolgy model formulated by David Rohl. According to this model Egyptian chronology should be lowered by some 300 years. This would mean that the Temple in Jerusalem was built in the Late Bronze Age. As you are probably aware inscribed on the pomeganate is a dedication to the Temple in Jerusalem. Dr. Andre Lemaire many years ago examined the writing and determined it was from the 8th century BCE. However examination of the pomegranate determined that the pomegranate itself was from the Late Bronze Age. So according to the conventional chronology this would pose an extreme anomaly. Of course one could argue that somehow the individual who made this inscription used an ancient pomegranate. But this, after a little thought, will be rejected out of hand. Are we really to believe that someone had in his posession an antique dating some 500 years earlier and decided to inscribe on it. Also because the inscription reads".... consecrated to the Priests" This would mean that it was intednded to be used in the Temple. Why would anyone use something so old and delicate in the Temple. Clearly any item intended for use in the Temple would have been made then, not from a time when according to the conventional chronology the Cannanites ruled the land. Any item from that time would have been considered pagan. Therefore having this pomegranate which dates to the Late Bronze Age and yet having the writing date hundreds of years later is an extreme problem. Unless of course one adopts the New Chronolgy model which could rectify this historical anomaly. Rabbi Stuart Steinberg • • • • • • • Pomegranate ReaxminationIn his written report Prof. Roman does indeed state that the patina in the incised letters is ancient. He also states that he "found no evidence that there are missing letters" and that it was not clear to him on what basis it was suggested that the missing letters were 'Yod' ,'He', 'Waw'. These missing letters are required for the suggested reading 'Yahweh' Therefore a possible conclusion from his expert opinion is that while the pomegranate is ancient, it is not necessarily associated with the Temple in Jerusalem, or with any other pre-exilic temple. For the that, apparently, more evidence would be required. • • • • • • • |
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An Israeli scientist employed by the defense in the Jerusalem forgery trial has concluded that the inscription on the famous ivory pomegranate (“[Belonging] to the Temple of [Yahwe]h, consecrated to the priests”) is authentic.
