[ ♪ ♪ ] [ Mixed shouting ] [ ♪ ♪ ] Male voice: [ Narrating ] THE
MOST FAMOUS DEATH IN HISTORY IS THE DEATH OF JESUS OF
NAZARETH. 2000 YEARS AGO, IN FIRST
CENTURY JERUSALEM, HE WAS CRUCIFIED BY THE
ROMANS. THE GOSPELS TELL US HE WAS
BURIED IN A TOMB... AND TWO DAYS LATER, MARY
MAGDALENE, ONE OF HIS CLOSEST DISCIPLES, FOUND THE TOMB EMPTY. [ ♪ ♪ ] BUT ACCORDING TO THE GOSPEL OF
MATTHEW, THERE WAS ANOTHER STORY
CIRCULATING AFTER JESUS' DEATH. AND THOUGH THE GOSPEL CALLS IT
A LIE, IT WAS RUMOURED THAT JESUS'
DISCIPLES SECRETLY TOOK THEIR MASTER'S
BODY, PRESUMABLY TO GIVE HIM A
PERMANENT BURIAL. [ ♪ ♪ ] IF THIS IS TRUE, ACCORDING TO FIRST CENTURY
BURIAL PRACTICES IN JERUSALEM, JESUS' BODY WOULD HAVE BEEN
TAKEN TO A ROCK HEWN FAMILY
TOMB. GIVEN THAT HE WAS CRUCIFIED
FOR INSURRECTION, THE REBURIAL WOULD HAVE BEEN
DONE IN SECRET BY HIS CLOSEST DISCIPLES. JESUS' BODY WOULD HAVE BEEN
SHROUDED AND LEFT TO DECOMPOSE. ONE YEAR LATER, HIS DISCIPLES
WOULD HAVE RETURNED. THIS TIME, JOINED BY HIS
FAMILY, FOR THE FINAL BURIAL CEREMONY. MARY, JESUS' MOTHER, WOULD HAVE ATTENDED THE
CEREMONY. MARY MAGDALENE WOULD ALSO HAVE
BEEN THERE. HIS BROTHERS SIMON, JOSEPH, JUDAH AND JAMES WOULD HAVE PREPARED JESUS'
BONES FOR THE FINAL BURIAL, PLACING THEM IN A LIMESTONE
COFFIN CALLED AN OSSUARY. JESUS' NAME WOULD HAVE BEEN
INSCRIBED ON THE SIDE. HIS OSSUARY WOULD THEN HAVE
BEEN PLACED IN A NICHE, IN THE INNER CHAMBER, SEALED
AWAY FOREVER DEEP INSIDE HIS FAMILY TOMB. [ ♪ ♪ ] Narrator: IN THE SPRING OF
1980 IN TALPIOT, SOUTH JERUSALEM, CONSTRUCTION BLASTING EXPOSED
THE ENTRANCE TO A BURIAL TOMB. IT WAS 2000 YEARS OLD. [ ♪ ♪ ] ON THE SUNDAY MORNING, UNDER
PRESSURE FROM CONTRACTORS, A TEAM OF ARCHAEOLOGISTS WAS
CALLED IN TO EXCAVATE. THEY HAD ONLY THREE DAYS
BEFORE THE TOMB WAS TO BE SEALED AND CEMENTED
OVER. Man: I COULD SEE THIS LARGE
SLOPE WITH TRACTORS AND... AND
BULLDOZERS AND TRUCKS TRUNDLING IN DIFFERENT
DIRECTIONS, AND RIGHT IN THE CENTRE OF
THIS, UH, SLOPE WAS THIS GAPING HOLE WHICH TURNED OUT TO BE THE
ENTRANCE TO THE TALPIOT, UH,
TOMB. Narrator: ABOVE THE ENTRANCE
WAS A UNIQUE FACADE. A CAREFULLY CRAFTED CHEVRON
AND CIRCLE THAT MYSTIFIED THE
ARCHAEOLOGISTS. Gibson: THERE'S NO DOUBT ABOUT
IT, THAT THOSE SYMBOLS WHICH ARE
ON THE FACADE OF THE TALPIOT TOMB MEANT
SOMETHING. IT'S UNLIKELY THAT THE PERSON
OR THE FAMILY THAT CAME TO CARVE OUT THE
TOMB JUST, UH, CARVED THESE THINGS
AT RANDOM. THEY HAD TO SYMBOLIZE...
SOMETHING. WHAT THEY SYMBOLIZED, I DON'T
KNOW. BUT IT'S QUITE RARE TO FIND
THAT KIND OF ORNAMENTATION ON A SIMPLE TOMB. Narrator: SHIMON GIBSON, A
YOUNG SURVEYOR AT THE TIME, WAS ONE OF THE FIRST INSIDE. IT WAS HIS JOB TO RECORD THE
LAYOUT. Gibson: IT WAS GREAT, IT WAS
VERY EXCITING. ME ENTERING INTO THE TOMB, WHICH HAS BEEN CUT INTO...
INTO ROCK. IT HAS A CENTRAL CHAMBER; IT HAS ARCOSOLIA BENCHES IN
THE WALLS FOR THE LAYING OUT OF BODIES; IT HAS, UM, THESE LOCULI EXTENDING IN DIFFERENT
DIRECTIONS. IT WAS INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT TO GET AS MUCH ARCHAEOLOGICAL
DETAIL AS POSSIBLE ONTO PLANS. Narrator: GIBSON'S DETAILED
PLAN RECORDED EVERY INCH OF THE
TOMB'S INTERIOR. EXTENDING OUT FROM A LARGE
INNER CHAMBER WERE SIX DEEP CAVITIES CALLED
LOCULI ORKOKHIM IN HEBREW. AND INSIDE THESE KOKHIM THE
ARCHAEOLOGISTS FOUND TEN SMALL LIMESTONE COFFINS, ALSO CALLED OSSUARIES. THE OSSUARIES WERE QUICKLY
TRANSFERRED TO JERUSALEM'S ROCKEFELLER
MUSEUM UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE
ISRAEL DEPARTMENT OF
ANTIQUITIES. THE BONES AND REMAINS FOUND
INSIDE WERE BAGGED AND BOXED AND PUT
ASIDE FOR REBURIAL. CERTAIN DECISIONS WERE MADE BY
THE ISRAELI ANTIQUITIES
AUTHORITY THAT THEY WOULD HEED TO THE
REQUESTS OF THE ULTRA-ORTHODOX JEWISH
COMMUNITY IN JERUSALEM AND GIVE OVER, UM, BONE
MATERIAL WHICH HAD BEEN ANALYZED AND, UH, EXAMINED BY
ANTHROPOLOGISTS FOR REBURIAL. Narrator: AND THEN THEY BEGAN
THE PROCESS OF CATALOGUING THE ANCIENT
BONE BOXES. BY 1980, OVER 1000 OSSUARIES
HAD BEEN FOUND, BUT ONLY 20% OF THEM BORE THE
NAMES OF THE DEAD. HERE, IT WAS DISCOVERED THAT
SIX OUT OF THE TEN OSSUARIES
HAD INSCRIPTIONS. THEY ARE NOT MONUMENTAL
INSCRIPTIONS, THEY ARE NOT INTENDED TO... BE
SEEN AND VIEWED BY EVERYBODY, AND THEY'RE NOT THERE TO
COMMEMORATE THE DEAD. THEY ARE THERE SO THAT WHEN
FAMILY MEMBERS COME IN AND START SHIFTING THE
BOXES AROUND SO THEY CAN PUT A NEW ONE IN, THEY KNOW WHICH ONE IS WHICH AND WHICH BELONGS TO WHO. Narrator: THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL
RECORD SHOWS THAT THE CUSTOM OF USING
OSSUARIES FOR BURIAL IN
JERUSALEM ONLY LASTED FOR ABOUT 100
YEARS, ENDING AROUND 70 OF THE COMMON
ERA WHEN JERUSALEM WAS DESTROYED
BY THE ROMANS. AND SO THE DISCOVERY OF
INSCRIPTIONS ON STONE COFFINS LIKE THESE PROVIDE ARCHAEOLOGISTS WITH A
CATALOGUE OF NAMES SPECIFIC TO THE TIME OF JESUS. AND ON ONE OF THE OSSUARIES DISCOVERED IN THE TALPIOT
TOMB, WRITTEN IN ARAMAIC, WAS AN
ASTONISHING NAME: YESHUA BAR YOSEPH. YESHUA, OR JESUS, SON OF JOSEPH. "YESHUA BAR JOSEPH". NOW, WHEN THIS WAS FOUND, UH, I THINK THE ARCHAEOLOGISTS WEREN'T TOO EXCITED ABOUT IT. THE PUBLIC WOULD HAVE BEEN
VERY EXCITED BUT THEY DIDN'T HEAR ABOUT IT. "YOU FOUND A 'JESUS, SON OF
JOSEPH' OSSUARY?" BUT IT WASN'T REALLY TALKED
ABOUT. [ ♪ ♪ ] Narrator: TODAY, THE "JESUS,
SON OF JOSEPH" OSSUARY IS IN THE HANDS OF THE ISRAEL
ANTIQUITIES AUTHORITY, OR IAA, AS ARE THE REST OF THE STONE
COFFINS TAKEN FROM THE TALPIOT
TOMB. MOST OF THEM HAVE BEEN LOCKED
AWAY AND STORED IN THIS MASSIVE
WAREHOUSE. BUT WHY? WE'VE ASSEMBLED A TEAM OF
SCIENTISTS, SCHOLARS, AND JOURNALISTS TO INVESTIGATE THE TEN ANCIENT
BONE BOXES AND TO FIND OUT WHY THEY'VE
BEEN IGNORED. [ ♪ ♪ ] THIS... THIS IS IT. FELIX? Man: YEAH? THIS ONE IS 5-4-3, THIS IS IT. THIS IS IT. JESUS, SON OF JOSEPH. [ ♪ ♪ ] Narrator: TODAY, IT TAKES AN
EXPERT IN ANCIENT WRITING LIKE WORLD RENOWNED HARVARD
PROFESSOR, FRANK MOORE CROSS, TO EXAMINE THE INSCRIPTION. BECAUSE EVEN THOUGH IT IS ONE
OF THE PLAINEST EVER FOUND ON
AN OSSUARY, ITS LETTERS ARE SO INFORMAL THAT IT'S VERY DIFFICULT TO
READ. THIS BEING QUITE INFORMAL, AND THIS PARTICULAR ONE QUITE
MESSY. Narrator: ACADEMICS DESCRIBE
IT AS A GRAFFITI, SO CURSORY, IT'S ALMOST AS IF IT WAS MEANT
TO BE READ ONLY BY INTIMATE
FAMILY. THERE'S AN X HERE BEFORE THE NAME, AND THEN THE NAME YESHUA. THEN THE FATHER'S NAME IS PERFECTLY CLEAR,
"JE-HO-SEPH"; THE SON OF JOSEPH. I HAVE NO REAL DOUBT THAT THIS IS TO BE READ YESHUA AND THEN YESHUA BAR YEHOSEPH, THAT IS "JESUS, SON OF
JOSEPH". Narrator: JESUS, SON OF
JOSEPH. PROFESSOR CROSS' EXAMINATION
OF THE PHOTOGRAPH HAS NOW SHOWN US EXACTLY WHAT
TO LOOK FOR ON THE ACTUAL COFFIN. YOD, VAV, SHIN, AYIN. Narrator: YOD, SHIN, VAV, AYIN, JESUS. BET, RESH, SON OF. YOD, HE, VAV, SAMECH, PE,
JOSEPH. [ Laugh ] JESUS, SON OF
JOSEPH. Golubev: IT'S QUITE AMAZING,
EH? AMAZING IS NOT... NOT THE WORD
FOR IT. Narrator: CAN THIS STONE
COFFIN BE LINKED TO JESUS OF
NAZARETH? TO ANSWER THAT QUESTION, WE
HAVE TO EXAMINE ALL THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL
EVIDENCE UNCOVERED IN THIS
FAMILY TOMB. DOES IT FIT WITH CHRISTIAN
TRADITION? DOES IT CHALLENGE CERTAIN
ARTICLES OF FAITH? IF THE BONES OF JESUS WERE TO
BE FOUND IN AN OSSUARY IN JERUSALEM
TOMORROW AND WITHOUT A DOUBT, LET'S
SAY, THEY ARE DEFINITELY AGREED TO BE THE BONES OF
JESUS, WOULD THAT DESTROY CHRISTIAN
FAITH? IT CERTAINLY WOULD NOT DESTROY
MY CHRISTIAN FAITH. I LEAVE WHAT HAPPENS TO BODIES
UP TO GOD. Narrator: IT SEEMS THAT
CHRISTIANS CAN ACCEPT THE
POSSIBILITY THAT THE REMAINS OF JESUS WERE TRANSFERRED TO A FAMILY
TOMB. THEREAFTER, HE COULD HAVE
RISEN AND APPEARED TO HIS FOLLOWERS,
AS THE GOSPELS REPORT. ACCORDING TO CHRISTIAN FAITH, JESUS THEN ASCENDED TO HEAVEN. IN THEORY, THE ASCENSION COULD
HAVE BEEN SPIRITUAL, LEAVING HIS BODY BEHIND. IN FACT, THOSE WHO TAKE A
STRICTLY HISTORICAL APPROACH TO
THE GOSPELS WOULD EXPECT TO FIND JESUS'
REMAINS IN HIS FAMILY TOMB. WHEN HE'S FIRST BURIED, IT'S
IN A TEMPORARY TOMB, AND LATER... UNLESS HE SOMEHOW MAGICALLY
DISAPPEARS AND GOES TO HEAVEN, WHICH IS A POSITION OF
CHRISTIAN FAITH, BUT IF YOU'RE GOING TO BE
HISTORICAL AND REALISTIC, UH, HE WAS PUT IN A... WOULD BE PUT IN A PERMANENT
PLACE. A PERMANENT PLACE OF BURIAL AS
A GOOD JEW, OKAY? WELL, THE TOMB... YOU HAVE TO
HAVE A FAMILY TOMB. Narrator: THE FAMILY TOMB OF
JESUS. IF THE OSSUARY FOUND IN THE
TALPIOT TOMB, MARKED JESUS, SON OF JOSEPH, DID AT ONE TIME CONTAIN THE
MORTAL REMAINS OF JESUS, THEN ALL THE OSSUARIES IN THAT
TOMB WOULD HAVE TO BELONG TO
MEMBERS OF THE JESUS FAMILY. ON THE OTHER FIVE OSSUARIES
REPORTED TO HAVE INSCRIPTIONS, WE SHOULD ONLY EXPECT TO FIND
NAMES FROM THE FAMILY TREE OF
JESUS. [ ♪ ♪ ] JESUS WAS THE SON OF MARY AND
JOSEPH. BUT WHAT MANY PEOPLE DON'T
KNOW IS THAT ACCORDING TO CHRISTIAN
TRADITION, HE HAD TWO SISTERS, MIRIAM AND
SALOME. AND THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW
TELLS US HE HAD FOUR BROTHERS: SIMON, JUDAH, JAMES AND
JOSEPH. HIS ADOPTIVE FATHER, JOSEPH, WAS DESCENDED FROM KING DAVID. BUT JOSEPH MOST LIKELY DIED IN
NAZARETH AND WOULD HAVE BEEN BURIED
THERE, NOT IN JERUSALEM. JESUS' MOTHER, MARY, MARIA IN
ANTIQUITY, WAS ALSO OF DAVIDIC DESCENT. BUT UNLIKE JOSEPH, ACCORDING TO LATER CHRISTIAN
TRADITION, SHE DIED IN JERUSALEM. AND, WITHIN THE SAME TOMB AS
"JESUS, SON OF JOSEPH", A SECOND NAME WAS DISCOVERED. FIRST OF ALL, IT'S IN AN
OSSUARY FOUND IN JERUSALEM. Narrator: THE OSSUARY IS NOW
HOUSED IN THE BASEMENT OF THE ISRAEL
MUSEUM. AS YOU CAN SEE THE SCRIPT IS
VERY SIMPLE. THE HEBREW LETTERS THAT CREATE
THIS NAME ARE MEM. MEM IS FOR "M", RESH,LIKE "R", YODCAN BE "I" OR "Y" AND HE,IN HEBREW, IT'S LIKE "H" IN LATIN...
ENGLISH. THAT MAKES MARIA. Jacobovici: MARIA. YEAH. AND IT'S ONE OF THE RARE
EXAMPLES OF THAT NAME ON OSSUARY IN...
IN ISRAEL. Narrator: MARIA. MARY. FOUND IN THE SAME FAMILY TOMB
AS JESUS, SON OF JOSEPH. COULD THIS BE THE VIRGIN
MARY'S OSSUARY? [ ♪ ♪ ] [ ♪ ♪ ] Narrator: THROUGHOUT HISTORY, FROM THE FIRST GREEK WRITINGS
OF MARK, THE EARLIEST GOSPEL, THE VIRGIN MARY'S NAME HAS
COME DOWN TO US IN ONLY ONE FORM, MARIA. IT IS A LATINIZED VERSION OF
THE HEBREW, MIRIAM. [ ♪ ♪ ] AFTER JESUS' DEATH, MARY CONTINUED WITH HIS
TEACHINGS AND MUST HAVE GATHERED A LARGE
FOLLOWING. IN THOSE TIMES OF RELIGIOUS
TRANSITION, ROMAN CONVERTS ALSO BEGAN TO
FOLLOW JESUS, AND SO AS HER POPULARITY GREW
AMONGST HIS FOLLOWERS, MARY'S NAME WAS LATINIZED. THAT IS WHY THE NEW TESTAMENT
RECORDS HER NAME AS MARIA. WRITTEN IN HEBREW, THE NAME
MARIA IS VERY RARE BUT IT'S EXACTLY WHAT WAS
FOUND ON THE OSSUARY IN THE TALPIOT
TOMB. IF IN 1980 ARCHAEOLOGISTS HAD CONSIDERED,
EVEN FOR A MOMENT, THAT THEY HAD DISCOVERED THE
OSSUARY OF THE VIRGIN MARY, WHAT OTHER FAMILY MEMBERS MIGHT THEY HAVE EXPECTED TO
FIND NEXT TO HER? LOOK, "MATTHEW". "MATTHEW". LOOK, FELIX. "M", "T", YOD,
HE. SO "MATIA". MATIA, WHICH IS A SHORT FORM, A NICKNAME IF YOU WISH, OF MATIKIA, OR MATIKYAHU, WHICH IS WHERE WE IN ENGLISH
GET THE, UH, NAME MATTHEW. Narrator: MATTHEW. THE NAME AT FIRST DOESN'T SEEM
TO FIT WITH THE JESUS FAMILY. THE NEW TESTAMENT IS MADE UP
OF THE WRITINGS OF FOUR GOSPELS ATTRIBUTED TO MATTHEW, MARK, LUKE AND JOHN. MATTHEW THE EVANGELIST WAS A DISCIPLE OF JESUS. BUT SCHOLARS DON'T BELIEVE HE WAS A BLOOD MEMBER OF HIS
FAMILY. HOWEVER, THERE IS REASON TO
BELIEVE THAT THERE WERE MANY MATTHEWS WITHIN THE JESUS FAMILY. I'LL TELL YOU SOMETHING VERY
INTERESTING. THERE ARE TWO GENEALOGIES OF
JESUS. EVERYBODY READS THE FORMAL
GENEALOGY OF JOSEPH, HIS ADOPTIVE FATHER. IT'S BASICALLY ALL THE KINGS
OF ISRAEL, AND ON DOWN. WELL KNOWN, GREAT HISTORIC
NAMES. BUT THE OTHER GENEALOGY IS
EMBEDDED IN "LUKE". PEOPLE DON'T NOTICE IT MUCH, IT'S "LUKE" CHAPTER THREE, YOU'VE GOT TO TURN A FEW
PAGES. IT'S MARY'S GENEALOGY, THE
MOTHER. AND IN HER GENEALOGY, GUESS
WHAT? YOU HAVE FIVE, SIX, SEVEN,
EIGHT MATTHEWS. MATIA, MATIAS, IT'S A MACCABBEAN, HASMONEAN
NAME, IT'S A FIERCE NAME OF A... SORT OF A KINGLY FAMILY. IT'S A PRIESTLY NAME. YOU REMEMBER, MARY IS RELATED
TO ELIZABETH, THE MOTHER OF JOHN THE
BAPTIST, WHO IS A PRIEST, SO SHE'S GOT SOME PRIESTLY
CONNECTIONS THERE. AS WELL AS JUDAH, WHICH IS THE
TRIBE OF THE DAVIDIC MESSIAH. SO I DON'T THINK IT'S ODD THAT WE WOULD HAVE A MATTHEW
IN THIS TOMB AT ALL. IN FACT IT'S SORT OF ONE MORE
CONGRUENCE IN FITTING TOGETHER. Narrator: IN FACT, UNLIKE
MATTHEW, MANY BIBLICAL NAMES LIKE ISAAC
OR JONAH WOULD HAVE VIRTUALLY
DISQUALIFIED THE TOMB AS THE JESUS FAMILY TOMB BECAUSE THEY DO NOT APPEAR
ANYWHERE IN JESUS' GENEALOGY. THERE ISN'T A SINGLE NAME THAT DOESN'T FIT THE GOSPEL
STORY. EACH NAME IN THE SAME TOMB
CONNECTS. EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THESE
NAMES IS GOSPEL RELATED. THERE ISN'T, LIKE, ANY NAME
LIKE DANL OR SOMETHING ELSE THAT JUST
DOESN'T FIT. [ ♪ ♪ ] Narrator: ON THREE OSSUARIES, FOUR NAMES HAD BEEN UNCOVERED. JOSEPH, JESUS, MARY AND
MATTHEW. AND THEN, ON AN OSSUARY FOUND
DEEP WITHIN THE TOMB ANOTHER NAME WAS DISCOVERED. THIS INSCRIPTION SAYS "JOSAH", WITH A HEON THE END. UM, IT'S A... IT'S A
DIMINUTIVE OF JOSEPH, THERE IS NO QUESTION ABOUT IT. AS AN OSSUARY INSCRIPTION, THIS WOULD PROBABLY BE QUITE
UNUSUAL. IF I'M PUBLISHING IN ENGLISH,
I SAY "OKAY, THERE'S A JOSEPH." BUT IT'S NOT JUST A JOSEPH. IT'S JOSE. NOW, IN HEBREW, JOSI IN ISRAEL
TODAY IS QUITE COMMON, JOSI, JOSI, JOSEPH. LIKE JOEY. BUT JOSE YOU WILL NEVER HEAR. AND YOU DIDN'T HEAR IT IN THE
ANCIENT WORLD EITHER. THE JO, THE "E" BECOMES AN
"A", "JOSAH". GUESS WHERE WE KNOW THAT NAME. IN THE GOSPEL OF MARK, JESUS
HAS A BROTHER. PEOPLE DON'T ALL KNOW THAT
JESUS HAD BROTHERS. MOST SCHOLARS, YOU KNOW, THE
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH SAYS THEY
WERE COUSINS, AND OTHER PEOPLE, THEY WERE
STEPBROTHERS. BUT MOST OF THE HISTORIANS AND
THE BIBLICAL SCHOLARS HAVE PRETTY WELL NOW ADMITTED
THAT JESUS HAD BROTHERS. THEY'RE NAMED IN THE GOSPELS,
THE FOUR BROTHERS: JAMES, JOSEPH, JUDE AND SIMON. BUT THE JOSEPH IN "MARK", ONLY
IN "MARK", OUR EARLIEST GOSPEL, IT'S NOT JOSEPH, IT'S JOSE. Narrator: "YOSE", OR JOSE IN
THE ENGLISH, WAS THE BROTHER OF JESUS. BUT THE GOSPELS DON'T TELL US
MUCH MORE THAN THAT. HE DISAPPEARS AFTER THREE BRF
CITATIONS. WHAT HAPPENED TO "JOSE" IS A
MYSTERY. BUT IF THE OSSUARIES FROM THE
TALPIOT TOMB BELONG TO THE
JESUS FAMILY, THEN JOSE HAS FINALLY BEEN
FOUND. OF ALL THE OSSUARY
INSCRIPTIONS EVER DISCOVERED, THERE IS ONLY ONE WITH THIS
UNIQUE SPELLING OF THE NICKNAME JOSE. LOOK, CLEAR AS DAY, IT'S
"JOSE". AND THAT'S AN INCREDIBLE
THING, BECAUSE ACCORDING TO JEWISH
LAW, IF SOMEONE HAS A NICKNAME, YOU HAVE TO PUT THEIR NICKNAME ON THEIR TOMBSTONE OR CASKET. AND IT'S THE NICKNAME THAT
APPEARS HERE RIGHT NEXT TO JESUS, SON OF
JOSEPH. THE BROTHER WAS KNOWN AS JOSE,
NOT JOSEPH, AND IT'S EXACTLY IN THE SAME
CONFIGURATION RIGHT HERE; JOSE, YOSA. Narrator: IN 1980, ARCHAEOLOGISTS WERE
CATALOGUING OSSUARY NAMES IN LISTS OF HUNDREDS, AND FROM THIS TOMB THEY NOW
HAD JOSE, A RARE NICKNAME GIVEN TO THE
BROTHER OF JESUS; MARIA, A RARE LATINIZED
VERSION OF MARY USED IN THE GOSPELS TO REFER
TO JESUS' MOTHER; MATIA, A VERSION OF MATTHEW
THAT, AS IT HAPPENS, WAS COMMON IN MARY'S FAMILY; AND JESUS, SON OF JOSEPH. [ ♪ ♪ ] ALL FOUND TOGETHER IN THE
FAMILY TOMB. ALL CLEANED AND CATALOGUED. ALL BONE MATERIAL REBURIED
TOGETHER HERE IN AN ESPECIALLY
CONSECRATED GRAVE OUTSIDE
JERUSALEM. ALL THE OSSUARIES WERE THEN
CRATED AND STORED FOR DECADES ON
WAREHOUSE SHELVES. WHY DIDN'T ANYONE TAKE NOTICE
OF THESE NAMES? YOU'LL REMEMBER THAT THE
1970s, UM, AND THE... THE EARLY 1980s WAS
THE BOOM PERIOD FOR THE EXCAVATION OF TOMBS IN
AND AROUND JERUSALEM. SO THERE WAS SUDDENLY ENORMOUS
QUANTITIES OF OSSUARIES BEING BROUGHT BACK TO THE
ROCKEFELLER MUSEUM, THE HEADQUARTERS OF THE ISRAEL
DEPARTMENT OF ANTIQUITIES. AND THESE... INSCRIPTIONS WERE
DEEMED TO BE COMMON. THESE ARE THE MOST COMMON
NAMES AMONG JEWS IN THE FIRST CENTURY COMMON
ERA. THESE ARE EXCEEDINGLY... POPULAR NAMES IN THE PERIOD. ALL THE FACTS THAT WE HAVE IS THAT THERE IS A CLUSTER OF
NAMES THAT RESEMBLE MANY OF THE
NAMES THAT WE FIND IN THE NEW
TESTAMENT. THE OTHER FACT IS THAT WE FIND THESE NAMES IN MANY OTHER
PLACES. SO SUGGESTING THAT THIS TOMB WAS THE TOMB OF THE FAMILY OF
JESUS IS A FAR-FETCHED SUGGESTION AND WE NEED TO BE VERY CAREFUL
WITH THAT. YOU KNOW, ALL THE TOMBS AROUND
JERUSALEM, UNFORTUNATELY WITH
CONSTRUCTION, ARE SLOWLY GETTING EXPOSED,
AND IN SOME CASES DESTROYED. SO IT'S NOT SO FAR-FETCHED THAT A CONSTRUCTION CREW WOULD
HAVE UNCOVERED THE TOMB OF
JESUS. YOU KNOW, I MEAN, IT CAN
HAPPEN. I THINK WE HAVE TO CONSIDER
IT. Narrator: WHILE THE
STATISTICAL PROBABILITIES HAVE
BEEN ARGUED, THEY HAVE NEVER BEEN EXAMINED
BY STATISTICAL EXPERTS UNTIL
NOW. ANDREY FEUERVERGER IS A PROFESSOR OF MATHEMATICS
AND STATISTICS. FROM OSSUARIES AND OTHER
SOURCES, HE'S GATHERED EVERY NAME KNOWN
FROM THE TIME OF JESUS. BY NOTING HOW OFTEN EACH NAME
OCCURS HE CAN STATISTICALLY EVALUATE
THE NAMES DISCOVERED IN
TALPIOT. ONE OF THE THINGS THAT'S
FAIRLY INTERESTING ABOUT THIS PARTICULAR TOMB
SITE IS THAT, FROM A LAY POINT OF
VIEW, IF ONE LOOKS AT THE SPECIFIC
NAMES THAT OCCUR IN THE CLUSTER AND IF ONE FOCUSES JUST ON THE
NAMES INDIVIDUALLY, UH, ONE CAN VERY WELL COME
AWAY WITH THE IMPRESSION THAT THERE IS NOTHING THE
LEAST BIT UNUSUAL ABOUT THIS PARTICULAR CLUSTER. BUT THE CORRECT WAY TO ANALYZE
THIS IS TO LOOK AT ALL OF THE NAMES
IN UNISON. [ Mixed shouting ] Narrator: ACCORDING TO
STATISTICS, IF WE WERE ON A CROWDED STREET
IN ANCIENT JERUSALEM AND CALLED OUT THE NAME JESUS, THERE WOULD BE APPROXIMATELY A
4% CHANCE THAT A JESUS WOULD BE THERE. IF WE WERE TO CALL OUT THE
NAME MARY, WE WOULD HAVE A 25% CHANCE OF
FINDING A MARY. NOT BAD ODDS. BUT WHAT FEUERVERGER EXPLAINS
IS THAT IF WE WERE TO CALL OUT FOR JESUS, MARY, JOSEPH,
MATTHEW, AND JOSE ALL AT THE SAME TIME, THE CHANCES OF ALL THOSE
INDIVIDUALS BEING ON THE SAME STREET
TOGETHER ARE QUITE LOW. FROM A STATISTICAL POINT OF
VIEW, WE DON'T ACTUALLY LOOK AT THE
INCIDENCES OF THE INDIVIDUAL
NAMES WHERE WE SAY THAT EACH ONE OF
THEM IS A VERY COMMON NAME. WE LOOK AT THE WAY IN WHICH
THE FACTORS COMBINE WITH EACH
OTHER. SO, SURE, A FATHER BY THE NAME
OF JOSEPH IS NOT A RARE NAME. A SON BY THE NAME OF YESHUA IS
NOT A RARE NAME. BUT WHEN YOU COMBINE THOSE TWO
TOGETHER, IT'S RARER. SO IT REALLY IS A POSSIBILITY THAT THIS PARTICULAR TOMB SITE IS, IN FACT, THE ONE OF THE
NEW TESTAMENT FAMILY. IT IS A POSSIBILITY THAT, I THINK, NEEDS TO BE
TAKEN SERIOUSLY. Narrator: TAKING THE
POSSIBILITY SERIOUSLY MEANS THAT WE MUST TRY TO
UNCOVER MORE EVIDENCE. AND ONE WAY TO DO THAT IS TO
FIND THE TALPIOT TOMB. BUT MORE THAN 25 YEARS AGO THE
TOMB WAS REBURIED, SEALED AND CEMENTED OVER. A HUGE COMPLEX OF APARTMENTS
WAS BUILT ON TOP. EVEN IF THE TOMB CAN BE
LOCATED, IT MAY WELL BE IMPOSSIBLE TO
GET INTO IT, SITTING UNDER METRES OF
CONCRETE AND FOUNDATION. PORING OVER ARCHITECTURAL
PLANS, DECADES OLD, AND CROSS-REFERENCING THE IAA
ARCHAEOLOGY REPORTS, OUR TEAM BELIEVES THEY'VE
DISCOVERED THE UNDERGROUND LOCATION OF
THE TALPIOT TOMB. THE TALPIOT SITE IS PERFECTLY
SITUATED HALFWAY BETWEEN ANCIENT
JERUSALEM AND BETHLEHEM, THE TWO CITIES MOST IMPORTANT
TO JESUS AND HIS FAMILY. IT WOULD HAVE BEEN AN IDEAL
LOCATION FOR HIS FAMILY TOMB, CONSIDERING THAT SURVIVING
MEMBERS WOULD HAVE TRAVELLED FROM BOTH CITIES TO VISIT THE
BURIAL SITE. IF YOU THINK ABOUT IT, IT'S
PERFECT. IT'S RIGHT BETWEEN JERUSALEM
OVER THERE, WHERE ITAY IS, AND BETHLEHEM IS OVER THERE. THIS IS WHERE, IF I WAS A
MEMBER OF THE JESUS FAMILY, THIS IS WHERE I WOULD WANT TO
BE BURIED. OKAY? Man: OKAY. SO WE KNOW THAT THERE'S A TOMB
RIGHT OVER HERE, RIGHT? Narrator: OUR RESEARCH SHOWS
THAT IN 1980, TWO TOMBS WERE DISCOVERED ON
THE TALPIOT SITE. THE ROOF OF THE SECOND TOMB HAD BEEN PARTIALLY DESTROYED
BY CONSTRUCTION. BUT IT WAS SEALED UP AGAIN AND
NOT EXCAVATED BECAUSE OF TIME CONSTRAINTS
AND PRESSURE FROM RELIGIOUS
GROUPS TO KEEP IT UNDISTURBED. THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL REPORTS
SHOW THAT THIS SECOND TOMB IS 20 METRES NORTH OF TOMB
NUMBER ONE. THE APARTMENT BLUEPRINTS SHOW
THAT TOMB NUMBER ONE IS LOCATED UNDER A PATIO AND
BESIDE A BEDROOM WALL. THIS, WE BELIEVE, IS THE TOMB
WE'RE LOOKING FOR. NOW, WE KNOW THAT ONE OF THE
TOMBS IS UNDER THE PATIO. WE KNOW THAT THERE'S PIPES
COMING OUT. THAT'S WHERE YOU
COME IN. THERE'S SOME POTENTIAL... Narrator: CRUDE IAA SKETCHES
SUGGEST THAT BOTH TOMBS MAY HAVE HAD ACCESS PIPES
INSTALLED BEFORE BUILDING CONTINUED
ABOVE THEM. IT'S COMMON FOR PIPES LIKE
THESE TO BE ADDED AT THE
REQUEST OF RABBIS IN RESPONSE TO THE ORTHODOX
BELF THAT SPIRITS NEED A CLEAR
PASSAGE FROM A TOMB. [ ♪ ♪ ] WE'RE GOING TO GO DOWN HOWEVER MANY FEET IT IS TILL
WE HIT BOTTOM. I MEAN, AND ONCE... ONCE WE'RE
DOWN THERE, IF THE DRAWING IS ACCURATE AND WE'VE GOT THAT CURVE IN
THAT PIPE, THE CAMERA'S GOING TO GO DOWN
THE CURVE, WE'RE GOING TO SEE WHAT'S
THERE. MY CONCERN IS THAT THOSE PIPES
ARE BOGUS, THAT WHOEVER BUILT IT, JUST BUILT PIPES THERE TO MAKE
RABBIS HAPPY. "OH YEAH, THE SOULS CAN MOVE"
AND THERE'S NOTHING THERE. IDEALLY, YOU STICK YOUR CAMERA
DOWN THAT THING... YES. CONFIRM THAT THERE IS A
TOMB, THAT THERE'S A SPACE IN
BETWEEN THE TOMB AND THE
BEDROOM, IF YOU WILL. I DON'T KNOW HOW DEEP IT GOES. WE CUT A HOLE IN THE BEDROOM
WALL... BOOM, WE'RE IN. [ ♪ ♪ ] [ ♪ ♪ ] [ ♪ ♪ ] Jacobovici: OKAY, LET'S DO IT
AND LET'S DO IT FAST. THE NEIGHBOURS... ARE GETTING INTERESTED IN WHAT
WE'RE DOING. Man: GET IN THERE. Narrator: WE'VE OBTAINED
PERMISSION FROM THE TENANT TO GIVE US ACCESS TO THE
TALPIOT APARTMENT WE PINPOINTED IN THE
BLUEPRINTS. Man: YOU KNOW, I CAN'T... I CAN'T BELIEVE ANYBODY WOULD
LIVE OVER A TOMB ANYWAYS. IF IT'S NOT HERE I DON'T KNOW
WHERE IT IS. Narrator: WE'VE ONLY BEEN
GIVEN TWO DAYS. IT'S OVER HERE. ...IS DONE. COME ON. THIS IS IT. THIS IS IT. THIS IS IT? YEAH, THIS IS IT. LISTEN, WE NEED A TAPE
MEASURE. I GOT ONE. THIS IS THE REAL THING... I'M DOING HERE. LOOK AT THIS. WE'RE AT SEVEN FEET, EIGHT
FEET. AH, SOME RESISTANCE. BUT
THAT'S NOT THE BOTTOM. THERE'S MORE. WHAT'S BLOCKING THAT? THIS ISN'T A DUMMY PIPE. Narrator: BILL TARANT IS OUR
EXPERT WITH PROBE AND REMOTE-OPERATED
CAMERAS. EVEN IF THE ACCESS HOLE IS AS
SMALL AS A QUARTER OF AN INCH, BILL CAN GET A CAMERA INSIDE. [ Mixed comments ] Jacobovici: WHAT HAVE YOU GOT? THIS IS THE VIDEO PROBE, VERY LIGHT. YOU CAN SEE YOUR
FACE IN IT. LOOK AT HOW CLEAR THAT IS. SEE, THE CAMERA'S IN THE TIP,
THE LIGHT'S IN THE TIP. YEAH. WE'RE GOING TO... WE'RE GOING TO SEE WHAT... WHEREVER THIS CAMERA'S
POINTED, THAT'S WHAT WE'RE GOING TO
SEE. WHAT CAN IT DO? WHAT CAN IT DO? IT'S
ARTICULATING. IT'LL MOVE IN ALL DIRECTIONS.
YEAH. THAT'LL BE ABLE TO KEEP US IN
THE CENTRE OF THE PIPE SO THAT WE CAN ACTUALLY LOOK
AND SEE WHAT WE'RE DOING. OKAY? VERY GOOD. SO I'M GOING TO CENTRE IT AND I'M GOING TO INSERT IT
INTO THE PIPE. OKAY. OKAY. TAPE IS ROLLING. LET ME TAKE A LOOK, SO I'LL
WATCH IT WITH YOU, I'LL MOVE THE CAMERA AS WE GO
DOWN. TRY AND KEEP IT IN THE CENTRE. SEE HOW WE'RE GOING DOWN? IT'S STILL PRETTY CLEAN AND
WE'RE MOVING DOWN. WE'RE DOWN ABOUT 10 FEET. NO
DEBRIS? WHAT'S THAT COLOUR CHANGE? IT'S CHANGING COLOUR BECAUSE IT LOOKS LIKE THEY USED
DIFFERENT COLOUR PIPES WHEN THEY PUT THIS THING IN. HOW LONG IS YOUR CAMERA? 25 FEET. OH. I SEE SOMETHING. NOT GOOD, NOT
GOOD! SEE THAT THERE? WHAT IS IT? IT LOOKS LIKE SOME STICKS. I SEE PLASTIC AND I SEE SOME
WOODEN PCES, SOME DEBRIS OR SOMETHING. IT'S
NOT GOOD. Tarant: YOU KNOW WHAT? THIS... THIS IS A PRETTY
SERIOUS BLOCKAGE YOU GOT HERE. FELIX, THIS IS NOT GOOD. NO. I THINK PEOPLE ARE RELUCTANT
TO THINK THAT YOU COULD COME UPON THE
JESUS FAMILY TOMB. UH, AND YET, THERE'S CAIPHAS,
THE PRIEST WHO, UH, HAD JESUS CRUCIFIED, HIS TOMB WAS FOUND BY A
BULLDOZER SOUTH OF JERUSALEM A FEW YEARS
AGO. Narrator: IN DECEMBER OF 1990,
CONSTRUCTION WORKERS UNCOVERED AN ANCIENT BURIAL CAVE FROM
THE FIRST CENTURY. INSIDE, THERE WERE 12
OSSUARIES. TWO OF THEM BORE THE NAME
CAIPHAS. THIS ONE, THE MOST ORNATE
OSSUARY, HAS THE INSCRIPTION "JOSEPH,
SON OF CAIPHAS" CARVED INTO IT TWICE. [ ♪ ♪ ] JOSEPH, SON OF CAIPHAS, WAS THE HIGH PRIEST OF THE
TEMPLE WHO, ACCORDING TO THE GOSPELS,
PROSECUTED JESUS. [ Whispering in foreign
language ] FROM HIS POINT OF VIEW, JESUS WAS A DANGEROUS FALSE
MESSIAH... [ Yelling in foreign language
] WHO WAS LEADING THE JEWISH
MASSES INTO A CONFRONTATION WITH
ISRAEL'S RULERS IN ROME. THE CAIPHAS OSSUARY WAS FOUND, SO IT'S NOT AS THOUGH NO
FAMOUS, YOU KNOW... YOU SAY, "WELL, IT COULDN'T BE
ANYBODY." NO MATTER WHAT WE FIND,
"COULDN'T BE ANYBODY
IMPORTANT." WHY NOT? Jacobovici: IT SEEMS TO ME
THERE'S A DOUBLE STANDARD. YOU SAY THAT CAIPHAS IS, IN
ALL PROBABILITY, THE HIGH PRIEST WHO PROSECUTED
JESUS ACCORDING TO THE GOSPELS. WHEREAS THIS ENTIRE CLUSTER IS
DISMISSED. "WELL, THIS IS JUST COMMON
JEWISH NAMES." LIKE, I'M... HOW ARE YOU SO CONVINCED THAT
THIS IS THECAIPHAS? YOU FIND MORE OSSUARIES IN
THAT SAME TOMB, LESS FANCY, WITH THE NAME
CAIPHAS. NOT JOSEPH, SON OF CAIPHAS, BUT WITH THE NAME CAIPHAS ON
IT. SO IT'S DEFINITELY THE TOMB, AS ALL TOMBS WERE, OF A CLAN. THIS IS THE TOMB OF THE
CAIPHAS CLAN. ONE OF THEM COULD HAVE BEEN,
RIGHT... SHOULD HAVE BEEN, JOSEPH, SON
OF CAIPHAS, THE ONE THAT WE KNOW FROM THE
NEW TESTAMENT. AND... OH... THE ADORNMENT ON THE OSSUARY SHOWS YOU VERY CLEARLY THAT IT IS OF A DIFFERENT
STANDARD. SO... A FANCY DECORATION
CONVINCES YOU THAT THIS IS THE CAIPHAS OF
THE... NO, NO, CAIPHAS IS NOT THAT COMMON
NAME. IT'S NOT A COMMON... AS COMMON NAME AS JESUS,
JOSEPH, JOHN OR MARY. IT IS A RARE NAME, IT'S A NAME
THAT WE KNOW FROM BOTH JEWISH
SOURCES AND FROM THE NEW TESTAMENT AND... IT IS, UH, GOOD IN
DATING AND TIMING FOR THAT PERIOD AND IT COULD
BE THAT ONE. THE FACT IS THAT WE HAVE NEVER
FOUND, ANYWHERE ELSE, UH, AN OSSUARY WITH THE NAME
JOSEPH, SON OF CAIPHAS ANYWHERE
ELSE. ON THE OTHER HAND, YOU HAVE A
WHOLE BUNCH OF UNIQUE THINGS. "JOSAH", WHICH YOU FIND IN
THIS TOMB, AND THAT SPECIFIC VARIATION OF
THE NAME, YOU ONLY FIND IN THE GOSPEL OF
MARK AS A BROTHER OF JESUS, ONLY IN
THIS TOMB. NO OTHER, AS RARE AS CAIPHAS. IN FACT, RARER BECAUSE IN THE
CAIPHAS FAMILY TOMB, YOU FOUND SEVERAL CAIPHASES. JOSE APPEARS ONCE, PERIOD, OUT OF ALL THE THOUSANDS OF
OSSUARIES THAT HAVE BEEN FOUND. YET NOBODY SAYS, "IN ALL
PROBABILITY, THAT'S PROBABLY THE BROTHER OF
JESUS OF NAZARETH." NOBODY DOES THAT. THE FACT THAT THE
PROBABILITIES IN CAIPHAS ARE
VERY HIGH DOES NOT SAY IN ALL CERTAINTY
THAT THIS IS THE ONE. THERE WAS NO INSCRIPTION
INSIDE SAYING, "I HAVE CRUCIFIED
JESUS." WE DON'T KNOW FOR 100%. WE NEVER KNOW FOR 100% IN
ARCHAEOLOGY. [ ♪ ♪ ] Narrator: BUT THE EXPERTS DO
SEEM 100% COMFORTABLE CONNECTING SOME OSSUARIES
DIRECTLY TO FAMOUS NAMES IN THE GOSPELS AS LONG AS THEY STEER CLEAR OF
THE JESUS FAMILY. AT THE FIFTH STATION ON THE
VIA DOLOROSA, THE PATH JESUS WALKED CARRYING
HIS CROSS, WE FIND A DEDICATION TO SIMON
OF CYRENE. [ Mixed shouting ] IT IS HERE THAT THERE WAS A
MOMENT BOTH HISTORIC AND INTIMATE BETWEEN JESUS AND A MAN CALLED
SIMON. ACCORDING TO THE GOSPELS, JESUS STUMBLED EN ROUTE TO THE
CRUCIFIXION. AND SIMON, WHO WAS VISITING
JERUSALEM FROM CYRENE, HELPED HIM CARRY HIS BURDEN. [ ♪ ♪ ] SIMON AND HIS SON ALEXANDER
BECAME EARLY FOLLOWERS OF
JESUS. EXPERTS AGREE THAT THEIR
OSSUARY HAS BEEN FOUND. STRANGELY, IT SITS IGNORED UNDER AN ARCHIVAL SHELF IN THE
BACK OF A UNIVERSITY BUILDING. Man: WELL, WE HAVE A... A NICE OSSUARY THAT WAS FOUND
IN 1941. ONE OF THE INSCRIPTIONS
CLEARLY SAYS, UH, "ALEXANDER, SON OF SIMON". ALEXANDROS SIMONOS. THAT ONE THAT'S CLEARLY
INCISED IS RIGHT HERE. SHIMONE. YOU CAN SEE IT VERY
CLEARLY. RIGHT, SHIMONE. AND APPARENTLY, THE CHALK, WHICH IS ON THE OTHER SIDE AND
IS ESSENTIALLY FADED, DOES HAVE THE TWO NAMES, ALEXANDER AT THE TOP, SIMON
BELOW, WHICH WOULD INDICATE THAT BOTH
OF THESE INDIVIDUALS WERE PUT IN THIS OSSUARY. Narrator: ON THE LID OF THIS
OSSUARY, THE PLACE NAME, CYRENE, IN
MODERN LIBYA, IS INSCRIBED. SIMON OF CYRENE IS MENTIONED
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT, HELPING JESUS WITH HIS...
CARRY HIS CROSS. IF SCHOLARS HAVE GENERALLY
AGREED THIS IS HIS BONE BOX, THIS IS
IT, THEN THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST
IMPORTANT ARTIFACTS IN
CHRISTENDOM. WHY IS IT SITTING UNDER
SOMEBODY'S TABLE? PART OF IT IS THAT IT WAS
FOUND MANY YEARS AGO, IN 1941. THAT WAS LONG BEFORE THERE
WERE EVEN POPULAR MAGAZINES ON BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY FOR
THE LAYMAN. SO IT ESCAPED THE POPULAR
ATTENTION. YOU HAVE TO HAVE A PUBLICIST, YOU HAVE TO HAVE SOMEBODY THAT
SAYS, "BOY, THIS IS SOMETHING, LET'S
PUT THIS OUT." RIGHT? Jacobovici: AND SO IT ENDS UP
SITTING IN A STOREROOM? IT ENDS UP SITTING IN A
STOREROOM. MAYBE WE'LL BE ABLE TO SEE
THAT... CHAR... THAT CHAR... GREEN
CHARCOAL IF WE GET THE LIGHT OVER HERE
ON THIS AND BE ABLE TO READ IT THIS
TIME. YEAH. OKAY. BRING IN SOME MORE
LIGHT. OH GOOD. YEAH, BRING THAT OVER
HERE. OH, LOOK AT THIS. SIMCHA, COME HERE, LOOK AT
THIS. FORGET THE GREEN FOR A MINUTE.
LOOK. THIS IS INCISED. OH MY... I DON'T THINK THAT'S
PUBLISHED. THAT'S NOT PUBLISHED, IS IT?
NO. IT'S NOT IN ANY OF THE
PUBLICATIONS. Narrator: ON THE OSSUARY OF
SIMON OF CYRENE, THE MAN WHO HELPED CARRY
JESUS' CROSS, WE FOUND THE SAME SYMBOL THAT
IS CARVED OVER THE ENTRANCE TO THE
TALPIOT TOMB, THE TOMB THAT HOUSED THE
OSSUARY INSCRIBED "JESUS, SON OF JOSEPH". I MEAN, I'VE NEVER HEARD THIS
ANYWHERE. LOOK, I'M IN SHOCK. WOW. WELL, I DIDN'T EXPECT... I WAS TRYING TO READ THE GREEN
LETTERS. I WASN'T LOOKING FOR SIGNS OF
EARLY CHRISTIANITY. Narrator: SIGNS OF EARLY
CHRISTIANITY. IS THIS A SYMBOL THAT PREDATES
THE CROSS? IS IT POSSIBLE THAT THE SYMBOL
MARKING THE TALPIOT TOMB BECAME THE SYMBOL OF THE JESUS
MOVEMENT? IT IS, IF THE TOMB BELONGS TO
JESUS AND HIS FAMILY. NOTHING, LOOK, NOTHING. IT'S NOT GOING ANYWHERE. SO
WHAT CAN WE GIVE IT? ANYTHING MOVE? I THINK IT'S THE PLASTIC. [ ♪ ♪ ] YOU KNOW, SIMCHA, I'LL TELL
YOU, IT'S A VERY SERIOUS BLOCKAGE. Tarant: SIMCHA, YOU KNOW,
WE'RE AT THE POINT NOW, I THINK WE'VE GOT TO CALL IN A
PLUMBER. WE'RE GOING TO... WE'RE GOING TO BREAK INTO THE
TOMB WITH A PLUMBER? YOU GOT A BETTER IDEA? Jacobovici: ITAY! Itay: YEAH? Jacobovici: WE NEED A PLUMBER. NOW? NO, NOBODY WILL COME NOW, IT'S ALMOST 9:00 P.M. SO CALL THEM NOW AND BRING
THEM TOMORROW. Itay: THIS IS CRAZY. Tarant: START WITH THE
PLUMBER. WHAT ELSE HAVE WE GOT TO DO? [ ♪ ♪ ] [ ♪ ♪ ] Narrator: OVER 25 YEARS AGO, ARCHAEOLOGISTS DISCOVERED FOUR
OSSUARIES LINKED DIRECTLY TO JESUS AND
HIS FAMILY. THEN, ON A FIFTH OSSUARY, THEY UNCOVERED ANOTHER
INSCRIPTION. THE INSCRIPTION HAS TWO PARTS. THE SECOND PART READS "MARA", WHILE THE FIRST PART IS A
DIMINUTIVE OF "MARIAMNE". AND ALTHOUGH NO ONE HAD EVER
SEEN THIS NAME ON AN OSSUARY, IT WAS TRANSLATED AS JUST
ANOTHER VERSION OF MARY. MARY, ALSO KNOWN AS MARA. BUT WOULD IT MAKE SENSE TO
FIND IN THE JESUS FAMILY TOMB TWO OSSUARIES WITH THE NAME
MARY? FIRST MARIA, THE NAME USED IN
THE GOSPELS TO REFER TO THE VIRGIN MOTHER. AND THE SECOND, A UNIQUE
SPELLING OF BOTH MARY AND THE NAME
MARA. IT MIGHT MAKE SENSE IF THE
SECOND MARY, THIS MARIAMNE, WAS MARY
MAGDALENE. [ ♪ ♪ ] MARY MAGDALENE COMES DOWN TO
US IN THE NEW TESTAMENT AS NOT JUST A NAME, BUT A NAME
AND TITLE. ACCORDING TO SCHOLARS, SHE IS MARY FROM MAGDALA, MARY MAGDALENE. MAGDALA WAS AN IMPORTANT TRADE
CENTRE CLOSE TO THE SEA OF GALILEE. THE PEOPLE FROM MAGDALA WOULD
HAVE SPOKEN GREEK AS WELL AS ARAMAIC. CHRISTIAN TRADITIONS SUGGEST THAT MARY MAGDALENE AND HER
BROTHER PHILLIP WERE PREACHERS TO THE
GREEK-SPEAKING JEWS. AND IT'S QUITE LIKELY THAT
MARY MAGDALENE'S FAMILY AND
FOLLOWERS WOULD HAVE WRITTEN HER NAME IN
GREEK. THE MARIAMNE OSSUARY IS THE
ONLY ONE FOUND IN THE TALPIOT TOMB WITH
A GREEK INSCRIPTION. LET'S SAY IN THIS VERY TOMB OF
TALPIOT, THE SECOND MARY... RIGHT. WAS CLEARLY IDENTIFIABLE AS
MARY MAGDALENE, LET'S SAY. RIGHT. WHAT WOULD YOU... BE YOUR
REACTION THEN, ALONG... IN... INSIDE THIS
CLUSTER? IT WOULD BE FASCINATING AND CERTAINLY DRAW MUCH MORE
ATTENTION AND RAISE MANY MORE QUESTIONS. BUT IT ISN'T. WE DON'T HAVE MARY OF MAGDALA
IN THAT TOMB. IF ONE OF THE OSSUARIES HAD
SAID MARY MAGDALENE, I WOULD SAY, "WOW!" AND I WOULD BE A LOT MORE
IMPRESSED. IF IT WILL BE WRITTEN, MARIA
MAGDA... MARIA COMING FROM MIGDAL OR
MARIA MAGDALENA, I WOULD SAY, "VERY
INTERESTING". THIS WHOLE... WRITING... Narrator: IF THE MARIAMNE
INSCRIPTION COULD BE CONNECTED TO MARY
MAGDALENE IT WOULD BE MORE THAN
INTERESTING. IT WOULD BE STATISTICALLY
COMPELLING, BECAUSE WE COULD CREATE A
COMBINED PROBABILITY EQUATION FOR THE TALPIOT CLUSTER THAT
INCLUDES MARIAMNE. WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU DO THAT IS THAT THE INDIVIDUAL
PROBABILITY FACTORS, EVEN THOUGH THEY'RE NOT
TERRIBLY SMALL IN ANY ONE PARTICULAR CASE, WHEN YOU MULTIPLY THEM ALL
TOGETHER, IT ACTUALLY STARTS TO BUILD UP
A PICTURE THAT THE OVERALL THING THAT
YOU'VE SEEN IS ACTUALLY A VERY RARE EVENT. Narrator: BECAUSE FEUERVERGER
TAKES A CONSERVATIVE APPROACH, HE ELIMINATES MATIA
ALTOGETHER, SINCE HE IS NOT A KNOWN MEMBER OF JESUS' IMMEDIATE FAMILY. FEUERVERGER ALSO DIVIDES THE
PROBABILITY OUTCOME BY 4, SO AS TO COMPENSATE FOR ANY
UNINTENDED BIASES IN THE HISTORICAL DATA. AND HE FURTHER DIVIDES THE
NUMBER BY 1000, REPRESENTING ALL FIRST CENTURY
JERUSALEM TOMBS. BY THE END, HIS MODEL
CONCLUDES THAT THERE IS ONLY
ONE CHANCE IN 600 THAT THE TALPIOT TOMB IS NOT
THE JESUS FAMILY TOMB IF MARIAMNE CAN BE LINKED TO
MARY MAGDALENE. BUT CAN SHE? ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS TALES
ASSOCIATED WITH MARY MAGDALENE IS IN THE GOSPEL OF JOHN, WHERE JESUS STOPS THE STONING
OF A WOMAN PUNISHED FOR
ADULTERY. [ Mixed shouting ] BUT THERE IS NO INDICATION IN
THE TEXT THAT THE UNNAMED WOMAN IS
MAGDALENE. IT'S A LATER CHRISTIAN
TRADITION THAT HAS LINKED THE ADULTERESS
TO MAGDALENE, JUST AS IT HAS LINKED HER TO
THE TALE, IN "LUKE", OF ANOTHER UNNAMED WOMAN SPECIFICALLY LABELLED A
SINNER, WHO ANOINTS THE FEET OF
JESUS... DRYING THEM WITH HER HAIR. [ ♪ ♪ ] TODAY, SCHOLARS BELIEVE THAT
MARY MAGDALENE AND THE TWO UNNAMED WOMEN IN
"LUKE" AND "JOHN" ARE ALL DIFFERENT WOMEN. THE TRADITION OF LINKING MARY
MAGDALENE TO THESE SO-CALLED SINNERS CAN
BE TRACED BACK TO A TURNAROUND IN THE CHURCH
OF LATER CENTURIES WHEN WOMEN WERE EXCLUDED FROM
BEING CONSECRATED AS RELIGIOUS
LEADERS. PREVIOUS TO THAT TIME, WOMEN
WERE ORDAINED. AND IN MANY EARLY CHRISTIAN
WRITINGS, MARY MAGDALENE IS HIGHLY
RESPECTED AS A MISSIONARY. I THINK THAT MARY MAGDALENE WAS AN EXTREMELY IMPORTANT
PERSON IN THE JESUS MOVEMENT. SO IMPORTANT THAT I THINK... AND THIS IS MY OPINION, I KNOW
I'M NOT REPRESENTING ANYBODY
ELSE IN THIS, BUT I THINK THAT SHE ACTUALLY
IS THE REAL FOUNDER OF
CHRISTIANITY. Crossan: MARY OF MAGDALA WAS A
MAJOR APOSTLE ON A PAR WITH PETER AT THE
TIME OF JESUS, BUT LATER AFTER THE NEW
TESTAMENT WE SAY SHE'S A PROSTITUTE. SO THE OPPOSITION TO MARY OF
MAGDALA INSIDE THE NEW TESTAMENT AND
AFTER THE NEW TESTAMENT IS THE SUREST PROOF FOR ME THAT SHE WAS VERY, VERY
IMPORTANT. Narrator: THE STRONG
LEADERSHIP DISPLAYED BY
MAGDALENE WOULD HAVE BEEN REGARDED AS
SUSPECT BY AN EVOLVING MALE-DOMINATED
CHURCH. SO, FROM THE SECOND CENTURY, WHEN CHURCH FATHERS BEGAN
SUPPRESSING DOZENS OF EARLY
CHRISTIAN WRITINGS, THE CHURCH REJECTED TWO TEXTS THAT HELD MARY MAGDALENE IN
HIGHEST REGARD: "THE GOSPEL OF MARY
MAGDALENE", AND A TEXT DESCRIBING HER
BROTHER'S MINISTRY, "THE ACTS OF PHILIP". FOR CENTURIES, ONLY FRAGMENTS
OF THESE TEXTS REMAINED AND SOME SECTIONS HAD BEEN
CONSIDERED LOST FOREVER. [ ♪ ♪ ] [ ♪ ♪ ] Narrator: IN 1974, IN AN
ANCIENT MONASTERY ON MOUNT ATHOS IN GREECE, A HARVARD UNIVERSITY
PROFESSOR, FRANCOIS BOVON, UNCOVERED A 700-YEAR-OLD
MANUSCRIPT. IT WAS THE MOST COMPLETE COPY
EVER FOUND OF THE FOURTH CENTURY TEXT,
"THE ACTS OF PHILLIP". IN IT, BOVON CLAIMS TO HAVE
DISCOVERED AN EARLY DESCRIPTION OF MARY
MAGDALENE UNMARKED BY LATER CHRISTIAN
TRADITION. IN "THE ACTS OF PHILLIP", SHE
IS COMPLETELY... THERE IS NO MENTION OF HER
PREVIOUS LIFE. SHE'S SEEN POSITIVELY AS A
CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY. SO SHE'S COMPLETELY AT THE
SAME LEVEL AS MALE
MISSIONARIES. SHE PREACHES, SHE TEACHES, SHE
BAPTIZES. SHE CARRIES EVEN THE TITLE
"APOSTLE". Narrator: IF IN THE EARLY
CHRISTIAN MOVEMENT MARY MAGDALENE WAS AN APOSTLE, THEN THE UNIQUE ALIAS "MARA"
ON MARIAMNE'S OSSUARY COULD BE POINTING TO SOMETHING
EXTRAORDINARY. IN ARAMAIC, "MARA" MEANS
"MASTER". Tabor: MARA, THE MASTER. EVEN TODAY, IF YOU GO TO THE
ARMENIAN QUARTER, THE ARCHBISHOP OR ONE OF THE
PRIESTS WOULD BE LIKE MARR SAMUEL OR
MARR WHATEVER. LORD, MASTER. YOU CAN STILL
HEAR IT. SO IT'S A SIGN OF RESPECT FOR
A RABBI, FOR A TEACHER, RELATED TO THE MARA. THE LORD,
THE MASTER. Narrator: IT IS CLEAR IN "THE
ACTS OF PHILLIP" THAT MARY MAGDALENE IS
RESPECTED AS A PREACHER, BAPTISER AND
APOSTLE. STRONG AND FAITHFUL AND CLOSE
TO JESUS. IT WOULD MAKE SENSE, THEN, FOR
HER FOLLOWERS TO REFER TO HER AS "MARA",
MASTER. BUT WHAT ABOUT THE SPELLING OF
THE FIRST NAME IN THE INSCRIPTION? THE UNIQUE
"MARIAMNE", NEVER FOUND BEFORE OR SINCE ON
ANY OTHER OSSUARY. IN "THE ACTS OF PHILLIP", MARY MAGDALENE'S NAME IS
SPELLED: "MARIAMNE". MARIAMNE IS THE SAME WOMAN AS MARY OF MAGDALA, OR MARY
MAGDALENE, IN THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS AND IN
SOME NON-CANONICAL TEXT, LIKE "THE GOSPEL OF MARY",
"PISTIS SOPHIA", ET CETERA. Narrator: "THE ACTS OF
PHILLIP" SEEM TO EXPLAIN ALL THE MYSTERIES BEHIND THIS
INSCRIPTION. BUT IF THIS IS REALLY THE
OSSUARY BELONGING TO MARY
MAGDALENE, THEN THERE'S ONE MORE THING
THAT NEEDS TO BE INVESTIGATED. THE COMMON HELD BELF, BASED ON
MEDIEVAL TRADITION, IS THAT AFTER THE DEATH OF
JESUS, THE DISCIPLES WERE EXPELLED
FROM JUDEA AND SCATTERED TO MANY LANDS, TRAVELLING AND SPREADING THE
WORD OF GOD. [ ♪ ♪ ] AFTER SOME TIME, MARY
MAGDALENE ENDED UP IN FRANCE, WHERE SHE SPENT THE LAST OF
HER DAYS. FOLLOWING THIS LATER CHRISTIAN
TRADITION, IT WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE TO
DISCOVER MARY MAGDALENE'S COFFIN IN
TALPIOT, JERUSALEM. HOWEVER, IN "THE ACTS OF
PHILLIP", WRITTEN IN THE FOURTH CENTURY, THE OLDEST KNOWN ACCOUNT OF
MARY MAGDALENE'S TRAVELS, SHE DOES NOT DIE IN FRANCE. ACCORDING TO "THE ACTS OF
PHILLIP", AT THE END OF THE STORY, MARIAMNE IS SAID... SUPPOSED
TO GO HOME TO ISRAEL, TO THE... JORDAN VALLEY. AND THE AUTHOR HAS AN ALLUSION THAT'S WHERE SHE WOULD DIE AND
BE BURIED. Narrator: "THE ACTS OF
PHILLIP" CLEARLY TELL US THAT MARY MAGDALENE, JESUS'
MOST TRUSTED APOSTLE, DIES HERE IN JERUSALEM. WOULD IT REALLY BE THAT
IMPLAUSIBLE TO FIND HER BURIED BESIDE
JESUS IN THE TOMB OF THE JESUS
FAMILY? THE STATISTICAL PROBABILITIES
ARE COMPELLING, THE CLUSTER OF NAMES IN THE
TALPIOT TOMB, EXTRAORDINARY, THE CONNECTIONS TO THE GOSPELS
TOO STRONG TO DISMISS. ARMED WITH THIS NEW KNOWLEDGE, OUR TEAM MAY NOW BE ABLE TO
UNCOVER NEW CLUES INSIDE THE TALPIOT TOMB... IF WE CAN JUST GET INSIDE. Golubev: LET'S HOOK UP OUR
STUFF AND SEE WHAT HE DID. Tarant: OKAY... LET'S SEE WHAT
WE'VE GOT NOW THAT WE'VE GOT... THE
PLUMBER CLEARED IT ALL OUT FOR
US. Jacobovici: THIS IS IT. I STILL DREAD THE IDEA THAT MAYBE THE BLOCKAGE WAS
THE BOTTOM OF IT. IT'S ABOUT 14 FEET. HERE'S THE
BLOCKAGE. Tarant: WE'RE AT THE POINT NOW
WHERE THE... YEAH, AND IT'S NOT THE BOTTOM,
WHICH IS GOOD. Tarant: YEAH, WE'RE STILL
GOING NOW. Jacobovici: NO, IT'S NOT THE
BOTTOM. THAT'S GOOD. THIS IS DEEP. THIS IS REALLY
DEEP. Tarant: IT'S 20 FEET. YOU'RE ALREADY 20 FEET DOWN? THAT'S GREAT. LOOK, LOOK,
LOOK, LOOK! Golubev: THAT'S THE BOTTOM, I
THINK. WHAT IS THAT? CAN YOU SEE THE
BOTTOM, FELIX? EITHER WE HIT ANOTHER BLOCKAGE
OR WE'RE AT THE BOTTOM. MOVE
THE CAMERA. BUT WHAT HAPPENED TO THAT? I
THOUGHT IT'S SUPPOSED TO CURVE. I'M GOING TO... Tarant: SWITCH
THE CAMERA. LET ME PAN AROUND TO SEE IF WE
CAN FIND SOMETHING. Jacobovici: CAN YOU... WE
DON'T SEE ANYTHING. Tarant: I'M PANNING LEFT. Man: POKE IT! I SAW... I SAW IT, YEAH, YEAH. THERE IT IS. Man: THERE'S AN
OPENING. Jacobovici: THERE'S AN
OPENING, ABSOLUTELY. THERE IT IS, THERE IT IS! WE'RE THERE. THIS IS IT. WE'RE IN THE TOMB! WE'VE GOT
THE TOMB, WE'VE GOT THE TOMB. WE'RE RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE
FACADE. Various: WE'RE IN... OH, MY
GOD. THERE IT IS. THAT'S... THAT'S THE TOMB. Jacobovici: THAT'S NOT A... Man: WAIT A MINUTE. [ Mixed exclamations ] YOU KNOW WHAT? THAT'S NOT THE... THAT'S NOT THE ENTRANCE TO THE
TOMB. WE'RE INTHE TOMB. YOU'RE IN THE TOMB. Man: NO! YES, ABSOLUTELY. [ Mixed chatter ] Jacobovici: THAT'S THE... IT'S
THE TOMB. Man: ALL RIGHT, HERE IT IS. THIS IS, ONE SEC... IT'S THE
TOMB, MAN. WE'VE GOT THE TOMB. WE FOUND
OUR TOMB. BUT WHERE'S THE GABLE, ITAY? YOU KNOW, THE GABLE, THE
YESHKASHUT NEALA. WHAT, I THINK THAT'S IT, ISN'T
IT? Man: THERE'S... IS THAT AN
OSSUARY? WAIT, WAIT, THAT'S OSSUARIES. THOSE ARE OSSUARIES, YES. YES. OH, MY GOODNESS. THERE'S GOOD NEWS AND THERE'S
BAD NEWS HERE. AN OSSUARY THERE. WELL? WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? Jacobovici: IT MEANS WE'RE IN
THE WRONG TOMB. OUR TOMB IS EMPTY. Man: SO WHAT ARE WE GOING TO
DO? IT'S THE WRONG TOMB. WE'RE IN
THE WRONG TOMB. Man: YOU KNOW WHAT? Man: WHAT? THIS MAY BE THE SECOND TOMB. YOU'RE RIGHT. THE ONE WE THOUGHT WAS 20
METRES NORTH, WE'RE IN A SECOND TOMB. RIGHT. OUR TOMB IS 20 METRES SOUTH OF
HERE. THE GOOD NEWS IS NO ONE'S EVER
BEEN... SEEN A TOMB FROM THE TIME OF
JESUS IN... IN PRISTINE CONDITION. Narrator: ALTHOUGH WE FOUND
OURSELVES IN THE WRONG TOMB, PERHAPS THESE FINELY- CRAFTED
OSSUARIES, SO CLOSE TO THE TALPIOT TOMB, ARE SOMEHOW CONNECTED TO JESUS
OR HIS FOLLOWERS. EH? Man: SO WHAT'S NEXT? WE'VE GOT TO FIND THE TOMB, THE HOLY FAMILY TOMB. WE'VE GOT TO BE LOOKING 20
METRES SOUTH. Man: IT'S GOING TO BE ON THE
OTHER SIDE OF THIS BUILDING. YEAH. IT'S THIS WAY. WHERE ARE YOU GOING? [
Chuckling ] WHERE THE HECK ARE YOU GOING,
SIMCHA? WELL, THAT'S THE PARKING LOT. SHOULDN'T BE A BIG DEAL. SOUTH IS SOUTH. 20 METRES TAKES US IN THE
GARDENS. 20 METRES IS NOT MUCH. WE'RE OKAY. [ ♪ ♪ ] [ ♪ ♪ ] Narrator: IN 1980, THE IAA
CATALOGUED FOUR OF THE TEN OSSUARIES FROM
THE TALPIOT TOMB AS BEARING NO NAMES. BUT THESE OSSUARIES WERE FAR
FROM PLAIN. SEVERAL DISPLAYED ORNAMENTAL
ROSETTES ON THEIR SIDES. AND ON THE REAR PANEL OF THE
OSSUARY CATALOGUED 80-506, THEY FOUND A LARGE CROSS MARK. Jacobovici: OKAY, LOOK AT
THIS. LOOK AT IT, FELIX. SOME KIND OF MARK. IT LOOKS
LIKE A CROSS TO ME. IT LOOKS LIKE A CROSS. Narrator: BUT THIS CROSS MARK WAS IMMEDIATELY DISMISSED AS A
MASON'S MARK. IT IS THEORIZED THAT MASON
MARKS WERE SCRATCHED ONTO OSSUARIES BY THE COFFIN CARVERS AS
SIGNATURES OR MARKS INDICATING HOW LIDS SHOULD BE ALIGNED TO BOXES. THIS ONE IS NOTHING TO DO WITH
CHRISTIANITY. IT JUST A SCRATCH, IT'S VERY
COMMON. IT'S JUST A SIGN OF THE MASON,
I BELIEVE. Narrator: AND THAT'S BECAUSE
CROSSES SIMPLY AREN'T ACCEPTED AS
CROSSES, IN THE CHRISTIAN SENSE, ON ANY ARCHAEOLOGICAL REMAINS DATING BEFORE THE FOURTH
CENTURY. THE COMMON BELF AMONG
ARCHAEOLOGISTS AND HISTORIANS IS THAT THERE IS ALMOST NO
ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE OF EARLY CHRISTIANITY UNTIL
THE FOURTH CENTURY, 300 YEARS AFTER THE DEATH OF
JESUS. THIS IS WHEN THE ROMAN
EMPEROR, CONSTANTINE THE GREAT, LEGALIZED CHRISTIANITY, ESSENTIALLY ALLOWING AN
UNDERGROUND MOVEMENT ACCEPTANCE INTO GENERAL CIVIL
SOCIETY. ITS POPULARITY EXPLODED ACROSS
THE EMPIRE AND CONSTANTINE BECAME KNOWN AS THE FIRST CHRISTIAN
EMPEROR. BUT IT'S HARD TO BELIEVE THAT AN EARLY CHRISTIAN
MOVEMENT, STRONG ENOUGH TO LAST 300
YEARS OF PERSECUTION AND THEN SWEEP THE ROMAN
EMPIRE, WOULD HAVE LEFT NO
ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE OF ITS EXISTENCE BEFORE ITS
LEGALIZATION. YOU KNOW WHAT I NOTICED OUT OF THE CORNER OF MY EYE? Man: YEAH. A CROSS INSIDE A CIRCLE. WHAT IS THAT? THAT'S GREAT, I LOVE THAT
QUESTION BECAUSE THIS IS NOT A CROSS. THIS IS FOUR CENTURIES BEFORE
THE CROSS WAS ESTABLISHED AS A CHRISTIAN
SYMBOL. THIS IS A ROSETTE, THE MOST
COMMON DESIGN ON OSSUARIES OF THE FIRST
CENTURY. OTHER OSSUARIES HAVE ALSO
CROSSES ON THEM. BUT THEY ARE MASON'S MARKS TO FIT THE PLACEMENT OF THE
LID TO THE BOX ITSELF. TO PROVE THE POINT THAT THE
CROSS WAS USED AS A CHRISTIAN SYMBOL IN FIRST
CENTURY, YOU NEED MUCH MORE EVIDENCE THAN ONE POORLY- EXECUTED
ROSETTE. Narrator: TODAY, THE CROSS IS IMMEDIATELY ASSOCIATED WITH
CRUCIFIXION. BUT THAT IS A REFERENCE THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN HORRIFIC DURING THE YEARS DIRECTLY
FOLLOWING JESUS' DEATH. FOR ANYONE IN THE FIRST
CENTURY TO WEAR A CROSS AROUND THEIR
NECK, WOULD... LIKE, SOMEONE TODAY WEARING A
LITTLE ELECTRIC CHAIR. IT WAS DISGUSTING. IT WAS A SYMBOL OF TORTURE. AND IT WAS ONLY WHEN
CRUCIFIXION WAS STOPPED THAT THE HUMAN IMAGINATION WAS
ABLE TO MOVE FROM THE REALITY TO
THE SYMBOL. Narrator: BUT PERHAPS PEOPLE
DID USE CROSSES AS RELIGIOUS SYMBOLS AT THE
TIME OF JESUS. CROSSES THAT HAD NOTHING TO DO
WITH CRUCIFIXION. Tabor: IN THE BIBLE,
"EZEKL"... THERE'S A PLACE WHERE GOD SAYS
GO TO THE CITY AND PUT, LIKE, WE WOULD SAY, AN "X" OR A CROSS ON THE
FOREHEAD OF ALL THE RIGHTEOUS PEOPLE. BEFORE THIS IS A CROSS, PEOPLE ARE DOING "X"s OR
CROSSES, BUT THEY'RE NOT THINKING OF
JESUS, THE CROSS, AT ALL. WHAT THEY'RE THINKING OF IS:
IT'S THE END. THE IDEA OF FINALIZING, RIGHT? STAMPED, SEALED, DELIVERED. AND IT TOOK ON AN APOCALYPTIC
MEANING THEN. THE LAST LETTER MEANS THAT
YOU'RE SEALED UP, THAT YOU'RE FINISHED, THAT
YOU'RE OKAY, THAT YOU'RE WAITING, MAYBE,
FOR THE RESURRECTION. YOU, KNOW, LET'S MARK THE
PEOPLE THAT ARE PREPARED WITH THE "X"
OR THE TAV. Narrator: THETAV. THE LAST LETTER IN THE HEBREW
ALPHABET, ORTAO IN ARAMAIC. IN THE BOOK OF "REVELATION", JESUS DECLARES, "I AM THE
ALPHA AND OMEGA, THE FIRST AND THE LAST, THE BEGINNING AND THE END." ALPHA AND OMEGA ARE THE FIRST
AND THE LAST LETTERS IN THE GREEK ALPHABET. JESUS WOULD HAVE DECLARED, "I AM THEALEPH AND THETAO", AS HE SPOKE IN ARAMAIC. AND IN HIS TIME, THE SYMBOLTAO WAS DRAWN AS A
CROSS. ON THE OSSUARY MARKED "JESUS,
SON OF JOSEPH," DIRECTLY BEFORE THE NAME
"JESUS" IS A DELIBERATE INSCRIPTION OF
ATAO. THAT CROSS IS ABSOLUTELY PART OF THE ORIGINAL INSCRIPTION. IT'S THE SAME DEPTH AND STYLE
OF THE INSCRIPTION PLUS THE MINERAL VAPORISATION CLEARLY GOING DEEP INTO ALL
THE LETTERS. Narrator: IF THIS SYMBOL,
THISTAO, WAS A MARK OF RIGHTEOUSNESS AT
THE TIME OF JESUS, IT MAY VERY WELL HAVE BEEN
ADOPTED BY HIS EARLIEST FOLLOWERS. CENTURIES LATER, IT WOULD
EVOLVE INTO THE CHRISTIAN CROSS. IT'S A TERRIBLE THING WHEN A
CULTURE IS WIPED OUT. AND YET, YOU KNOW, THERE'S A
SENSE IN WHAT... IN WHICH THAT'S HAPPENED TO
JESUS AND HIS FOLLOWERS. NOW THAT SOUNDS VERY SHOCKING. SOMEBODY SAYS, "WHAT? JESUS
AND HIS FOLLOWERS? THEY BECAME CHRISTIANITY.
THEY'RE NOT WIPED OUT." BUT THAT ORIGINAL MOVEMENT, THE WAY THEY ORIGINALLY WERE,
AS JEWS, RIGHT HERE IN THIS AREA, BELIEVING IN THEIR OWN VERSION
OF THE JEWISH FAITH BUT ALSO FOLLOWING JESUS, THAT SORT OF DISAPPEARED. AND I THINK IT'S DISAPPEARED
FOR THEOLOGICAL REASONS, EVEN THOUGH I THINK THE
MATERIAL EVIDENCE IS AROUND IF WE'LL JUST OPEN OUR EYES
AND SEE IT. Narrator: COULD IT BE THAT
THERE WAS A MOVEMENT MADE UP OF JEWS WHO SAW JESUS
AS THEIR MESSIAH, NOT THEIR GOD? AND BECAUSE THIS MOVEMENT LARGELY DISAPPEARED FROM
HISTORY, WE ARE BLIND TO THE
ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE THEY'VE LEFT BEHIND. IF THERE IS EVIDENCE FOR THIS
MOVEMENT OF JUDEO-CHRISTIANS, THE LOGICAL PLACE TO LOOK FOR
IT IS HERE. ACCORDING TO TRADITION, THIS IS THE VIEW JESUS HAD WHEN HE WALKED UP THE MOUNT OF
OLIVES AND GAZED UPON THE JEWISH HOLY
TEMPLE. WHERE THE MUSLIM GOLD DOME OF
THE ROCK NOW STANDS WAS ONCE THE HOLY OF HOLIES. THERE THE ARK OF THE COVENANT
WAS HOUSED. ACCORDING TO "LUKE", JESUS
LOOKED AT THE TEMPLE, FORESAW ITS DESTRUCTION, AND
WEPT. WHERE HE WEPT IS HERE, DOMINUS
FLEVIT, A HOLY SITE ON WHICH
FRANCISCAN MONKS BUILT THIS MONASTERY IN 1891. THIS SPOT WOULD HAVE BEEN THE
PERFECT PLACE FOR A JUDEO-CHRISTIAN
CEMETERY, OVERLOOKING THE TEMPLE THEY
WERE SURE JESUS WOULD COME BACK TO
REBUILD. IN 1953, WHILE RENOVATING, THE FRANCISCANS DISCOVERED A
2000- YEAR-OLD CEMETERY. THIS ANCIENT NECROPOLIS WAS
PARTIALLY EXCAVATED BY A WELL-KNOWN ARCHAEOLOGIST
NAMED BELLARMINO BAGATTI. BAGATTI CLAIMED THAT THESE
OSSUARIES BELONGED TO SOME OF THE
EARLIEST FOLLOWERS OF JESUS. IF THIS IS A EARLY
JUDEO-CHRISTIAN CEMETERY THEN THAT MEANS THAT OUR TOMB
IS NOT SITTING IN SOME KIND OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL
VACUUM. IT'S REALLY PART OF A NETWORK
OF CEMETERIES. THIS CAN PROVIDE AN
ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONTEXT FOR OUR
TOMB. Narrator: IN THIS NETWORK OF
TOMBS, THE FRANCISCANS DISCOVERED A
BONE BOX WITH AN INSCRIPTION NAMING ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS
EARLY CHRISTIANS: SIMON BAR JONAH. NOW, I DON'T KNOW IF EVERYBODY WILL RECOGNIZE THAT
IMMEDIATELY, BUT JESUS SAID TO SIMON PETER, WHO'S VENERATED LATER AS THE
POPE AND THE HEAD OF THE CHURCH, "YOU ARE SIMON BAR JONAH.
BLESSED ARE YOU, PETER." SEE, HIS NAME IS NOT PETER, THAT'S A GREEK WORD. HIS NAME WAS SHIMON, SHIMON
BAR YONAH. Narrator: TODAY, ONLY A PCE OF
THE OSSUARY REMAINS. THE FRANCISCANS HAVE STORED IT IN A SMALL MUSEUM BESIDE THEIR
CHURCH. IT BEARS AN INDISPUTABLE
INSCRIPTION, THE ONLY ONE EVER FOUND
SPELLING THE NAME: "SIMON BAR JONAH". SIMON WAS ONE OF THE 12
ORIGINAL APOSTLES OF JESUS. ACCORDING TO THE GOSPELS, JESUS RENAMED HIM PETER, IN ARAMAIC,KEPHA, WHICH MEANS
ROCK. HE'S CONSIDERED A SAINT BY
MANY CHRISTIANS AND THE FIRST POPE BY THE
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. ACCORDING TO TRADITION, SIMON PETER WAS CRUCIFIED AND
BURIED IN ROME. SO HOW COULD HIS COFFIN BE
HERE IN JERUSALEM? THE FACT IS, THERE HAS NEVER
BEEN ANY CREDIBLE ARCHAEOLOGICAL
EVIDENCE FOUND IN ROME UNDERNEATH THE
VATICAN THAT POINTS TO SIMON BAR
JONAH. AND HERE SITS AN OSSUARY DISCOVERED AT DOMINUS FLEVIT BEARING HIS NAME. SO IF THIS IS A
JUDEO-CHRISTIAN NECROPOLIS, IT IS PART OF A NETWORK OF
CEMETERIES AND TOMBS THAT BELONGED TO THE EARLY
FOLLOWERS OF JESUS, INCLUDING JESUS' FAMILY. Jacobovici: OKAY, YOU'RE NOT
GOING TO BELIEVE THIS. WHAT? YOU'RE NOT GOING TO BELIEVE
IT. I'M IMAGINING IT. CAN YOU SEE? NOW I SEE. IT'S A... IT'S A SYMBOL. A SYMBOL FROM THE TOMB ON AN
OSSUARY. THIS IS INCREDIBLE, BECAUSE
THE ANGLE, AND THE THING IS IDENTICAL...
IT'S IDENTICAL. AND THE DOT INSIDE. THE DOT IS DELIBERATELY
INSIDE. THE INVERTED V WITH THE DOT IN
THE MIDDLE, THE SYMBOL FROM OUR TOMB RIGHT ON AN OSSUARY FROM WHAT
IS SUSPECTED AN EARLY CEMETERY OF THE
FOLLOWERS OF JESUS. Narrator: TO FIND THIS SYMBOL DISPLAYED ON AN OSSUARY HERE IN THE NECROPOLIS OF DOMINUS
FLEVIT, DIRECTLY CONNECTS IT TO WHAT
IS BELIEVED TO BE SOME OF THE EARLIEST EVIDENCE
OF CHRISTIANITY. AS TO WHO MAY HAVE BEEN BURIED
IN THIS OSSUARY AND WHETHER OR NOT HE KNEW THE
SIMON OF CYRENE, WHO DISPLAYS THE SAME MARKINGS
ON HIS BONE BOX, OR THE "JESUS, SON OF JOSEPH",
WHOSE TOMB HAS BEEN EMBLAZONED WITH THE
SAME SYMBOL, WE CAN ONLY SPECULATE. [ ♪ ♪ ] [ ♪ ♪ ] Narrator: BUT WHEN IT COMES TO
FORENSICS, MODERN SCIENCE DOESN'T ALLOW
FOR MUCH SPECULATION. BY STUDYING ANCIENT DNA IN
BONE FRAGMENTS AND HUMAN RESIDUE LEFT BEHIND
IN OSSUARIES, SCIENTISTS CAN NOW DETERMINE
FAMILIAL RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE VARIOUS PEOPLE IN
THE TALPIOT TOMB. STEPHEN PFANN IS THE DIRECTOR OF THE CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF
EARLY CHRISTIANITY, AND HE'S ASSISTING STEVEN COX, A FORENSIC ARCHAEOLOGIST FROM
NEW YORK STATE. THEY HAVE DISCOVERED VALUABLE
MATERIAL INSIDE THE OSSUARIES INSCRIBED
"MARIAMNE" AND "JESUS, SON OF JOSEPH". INSIDE THIS OSSUARY, WE'VE GOT SOME MATERIAL THAT'S
ADHERING TO THE SURFACE OF THE STONE IN A VERY INTERESTING CIRCULAR
PATTERN. IT'S WORTHY OF PICKING OUT AND
TAKING A... TAKING A LOOK AT IT, AND SEEING WHAT ITS
COMPOSITION IS. THE PATTERN AND/OR MATERIAL COULD GIVE US A BIG CLUE AS TO WHO, WHAT, WHEN, AND
WHERE. Narrator: IT SEEMS OUTLANDISH
THAT THESE SAMPLES MIGHT CONTAIN THE DNA OF JESUS
AND MARY MAGDALENE. BUT IF THERE'S ENOUGH
MATERIAL, THESE TESTS MAY SHED A NEW
LIGHT ON JESUS AND HIS FAMILY. THE SAMPLES HAVE BEEN NUMBERED AND SENT TO THIS DNA LAB IN
THUNDER BAY, CANADA, ONE OF ONLY FIVE LABS IN THE
WORLD THAT SPECIALIZES IN ANCIENT
DNA. THE SCIENTISTS DON'T KNOW THAT
THE SAMPLES BELONG TO A "JESUS, SON OF
JOSEPH" AND A WOMAN WHO MIGHT BE MARY
MAGDALENE. [ ♪ ♪ ] IF THESE BONE SAMPLES TRULY DO BELONG TO MARY
MAGDALENE AND JESUS OF NAZARETH, WE WOULD EXPECT THE TESTS TO
SHOW THAT THEY ARE NOT GENETICALLY
RELATED. WE WOULD EXPECT TO FIND DNA REPRESENTING TWO INDIVIDUALS WITH NO FAMILIAL TIES. AND THAT WOULD BE AN EXTREMELY
RARE DISCOVERY IN A FAMILY TOMB. UNLESS THE INDIVIDUALS WERE
HUSBAND AND WIFE. OKAY, SO WE RECEIVED THE
SAMPLES THAT YOU SENT UP AND WHEN WE FIRST EXAMINED
THEM, THEY DIDN'T LOOK VERY GOOD. VERY DRY, VERY DESICCATED, VERY SMALL AND VERY
FRAGMENTARY. AND SO FOR THAT REASON, IT WAS GOING TO BE VERY
DIFFICULT FOR US TO DO THE ANALYSIS. WE THEN WENT ON TO PROCESS OR START TO PROCESS THE
SAMPLES AND TRY TO UNDERSTAND THE
QUALITY OF THE DNA. IS IT GOING TO BE VIABLE FOR
ANALYSIS? IN THIS PARTICULAR CASE, WE FOUND THE DNA WAS FAIRLY
DEGRADED, FAIRLY DAMAGED, AND FOR THAT
REASON, IT LIMITS WHAT TYPE OF WORK WE
CAN... CAN DO. Narrator: THE QUESTION NOW: IS THERE ENOUGH DNA MATERIAL TO CREATE A SIGNIFICANT
PROFILE? TO OBTAIN THE MAXIMUM AMOUNT
OF INFORMATION, THE BIOLOGISTS WILL TRY TO
RECOVER WHAT THEY CALL NUCLEAR DNA
FROM THE BONE CELLS. Matheson: THE EXTRACTION
ANALYSIS SHOWED THAT NUCLEAR DNA WAS VERY DIFFICULT TO RECOVER. WE HAVE THEN FOCUSED ON THE
MITOCHONDRIAL DNA. THE MITOCHONDRIAL DNA, BEING INHERITED FROM MOTHER TO
CHILD AND MATERNALLY INHERITED, MEANS THAT WE CAN ONLY
IDENTIFY THOSE TYPES OF RELATIONSHIPS. Narrator: THE BONE MATERIAL IS
TOO DEGRADED TO RECOVER DNA FROM THE
NUCLEUS OF THE CELLS. AND SO THE DNA EXTRACTION IS
NOW FOCUSED ON THE BONE CELLS'
MITOCHONDRIA. MITOCHONDRIAL DNA CAN ONLY
TELL US WHETHER OR NOT "JESUS, SON OF
JOSEPH", HAD THE SAME MOTHER AS
MARIAMNE, WHETHER OR NOT THEY WERE
BROTHER AND SISTER. IF THE BIOLOGISTS CANNOT
RECOVER MITOCHONDRIAL DNA FROM THE BONE CELLS, THE TEST WILL HAVE TO BE
ABORTED AND WE WILL NEVER KNOW THE
TRUE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN JESUS AND MARIAMNE. Matheson: WE HAVE INDEED BEEN
ABLE TO ACHIEVE RESULTS. WE GOT THE MITOCHONDRIAL DNA. IT WAS VERY FRAGMENTED, VERY SMALL AMOUNTS OF DNA. WE WERE ABLE TO AMPLIFY IT, WE WERE ABLE TO SEQUENCE IT. WE THEN WENT ON TO CLONE THOSE SEQUENCED DNA FRAGMENTS AND BY CLONING THE DNA, WE WERE ABLE TO THEN COMPARE
MANY, MANY COPIES TOGETHER. AND THAT INCREASES THE
VALIDITY OF THE WORK AND THAT WAY, WE'RE ABLE TO
COMPARE THE SEQUENCES BETWEEN THAT ONE INDIVIDUAL AND THE OTHER INDIVIDUAL. AND THAT'S ESSENTIALLY WHAT
WE'VE DONE AND I CAN SHOW YOU THE RESULTS
HERE TODAY. OKAY... SO WHAT WE HAVE HERE IS WE HAVE TWO SEQUENCES, JUST REPRESENTATIVE SEQUENCES, ONE FROM EACH INDIVIDUAL. AND WHAT I'M GOING TO SHOW TO
YOU HERE IS SOME OF THE VARIATIONS BETWEEN THE TWO INDIVIDUALS. AND SO WE HAVE A POLYMORPHISM
HERE, THIS G, AND THE A. POLYMORPHISM IS A VARIATION BETWEEN THIS SEQUENCE AND ANOTHER SEQUENCE OR A VARIATION BETWEEN THIS
SEQUENCE AND THE REFERENCE SEQUENCE. WE USE A POLYMORPHISM TO INDICATE OR IDENTIFY A MITOCHONDRIAL PROFILE. AND THIS POLYMORPHISM SHOWS
ONE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO INDIVIDUALS. WE ALSO HAVE ANOTHER
POLYMORPHISM HERE. WE HAVE A "T" AND A "C" SHOWING ANOTHER POLYMORPHISM
DIFFERENCE. SO WE HAVE A NUMBER OF
POLYMORPHISMS THAT SHOW DIFFERENCES BETWEEN
THE TWO SEQUENCES. WE CAN THEN CONCLUDE THAT
THESE TWO INDIVIDUALS, THEY'RE NOT RELATED. OR AT LEAST, NOT MATERNALLY
RELATED. THEY DO NOT SHARE THE SAME
MOTHER. IT CAN'T BE MOTHER AND CHILD. IT CAN'T BE BROTHER AND
SISTER. SO FOR THESE PARTICULAR
SAMPLES, BECAUSE THEY'VE COME FROM THE
SAME TOMB AND WE SUSPECT IT TO BE A
FAMILIAL TOMB, THESE TWO INDIVIDUALS, IF THEY
WERE UNRELATED, WOULD MOST LIKELY BE HUSBAND
AND WIFE. [ ♪ ♪ ] Narrator: FOR CENTURIES,
PEOPLE HAVE SPECULATED ON MARY MAGDALENE'S
RELATIONSHIP TO JESUS. MARY MAGDALENE APPEARS WITH
MORE FREQUENCY THAN OTHER WOMEN IN THE
CANONICAL GOSPELS, ALWAYS A CLOSE FOLLOWER OF
JESUS. HER PRESENCE AT THE
CRUCIFIXION AND JESUS' TOMB IS CONSISTENT WITH THE ROLE OF A GRIEVING WIFE AND WIDOW. AND SO PERHAPS JESUS AND MARY
MAGDALENE WERE MARRIED AS THE DNA
RESULTS FROM THE TALPIOT OSSUARIES
SUGGEST. [ ♪ ♪ ] AND PERHAPS THEIR UNION WAS
KEPT SECRET TO PROTECT A POTENTIAL
DYNASTY, A SECRET HIDDEN THROUGH THE
AGES, A SECRET WE MAY BE ABLE TO
UNCOVER IN THE JESUS FAMILY TOMB. [ ♪ ♪ ] WE'VE FINALLY BEEN ABLE TO
CONTACT ONE OF THE ORIGINAL BUILDERS OF THE TALPIOT APARTMENTS. EFRAYM REMEMBERS THE TOMB BUT IS A LITTLE HAZY ON ITS
EXACT LOCATION. [ Speaking in foreign language
] Jacobovici: IT'S BETWEEN THE
TWO BUILDINGS? OKAY. HE SAYS IT'S RIGHT
BETWEEN THESE TWO BUILDINGS. LET'S TRY... Narrator: BETWEEN THE
APARTMENT COMPLEXES IS A LARGE GARDEN WITH HIGH
TERRACES. AND IT'S IN THIS AREA THAT EFRAYM STATES THE TOMB IS
LOCATED. [ Speaking in foreign language
] Narrator: BUT ON WHICH TERRACE
IS THE QUESTION. [ Speaking in foreign language
] Narrator: THE NEIGHBOURS BEGIN TO TAKE AN INTEREST IN THE
SEARCH AND POINT OUT AN INCONSPICUOUS
CEMENT SLAB ON THE LOWER TERRACE. Jacobovici: COULD IT BE UNDER
THE CEMENT THING? Narrator: EFRAYM EXPLAINS THAT
THE SLAB HAS NO STRUCTURAL PURPOSE, BUT HE'S INTERRUPTED BY AN
ALMOST PROPHETIC VISIT FROM A BLIND WOMAN WHO'S LIVED IN THE APARTMENTS
SINCE THEIR CONSTRUCTION. Narrator: ONE MILLION PERCENT
CERTAINTY. THAT'S ALL WE NEEDED. IF WE COULD REMOVE THIS
INCONSPICUOUS CEMENT SLAB... WE JUST MIGHT FIND OURSELVES STARING INTO THE ENTRANCE OF THE JESUS FAMILY TOMB. [ ♪ ♪ ] [ Whirring of tools ] [ ♪ ♪ ] Jacobovici: OKAY, NOW HOW DO
WE DO THIS? WE NEED EVERYBODY TO HELP,
RIGHT? FELIX, YOU REALIZE WE'RE
ROLLING A BIG STONE. [ Mixed chatter ] [ Stone scraping ] Jacobovici: IT'S UNBELIEVABLE. Golubev: THIS IS IT, SIMCHA. PERFECT. IT'S THE REAL THING. [ Mixed chatter ] Jacobovici: I MEAN, I'M
PINCHING MYSELF. I CAN'T BELIEVE IT. OKAY, COME ON, COME ON. TAKE
THE PICTURE AND COME HERE, MAN. Man: WATCH YOUR FIRST STEP. IT'S OKAY. [ Shutter clicking ] ALL RIGHT, OKAY, OKAY. I CAN'T SEE ANYTHING. AS LONG AS I CAN SEE IF
THERE'S ANY SCORPIONS... ONE STEP... YOU MIGHT GET
SPIDERS. OKAY. OKAY. NO, THIS IS DEFINITELY
IT. LOOK, THERE'S THE CHEVRON. IT'S BEAUTIFUL. IT'S JUST
GORGEOUS. THIS IS RED, LOOK! JUST LIKE IN THE BOOK. JUST LIKE IN THE PICTURE. LOOK AT IT. FELIX, WE FOUND
IT. WE ACTUALLY FOUND IT. I'M GOING IN. OKAY, LET'S GO IN. [ ♪ ♪ ] [ ♪ ♪ ] Narrator: THE OPENING OF THE
TOMB, 26 YEARS AFTER IT WAS FOUND, COINCIDES WITH ANOTHER TWIST
IN THE STORY. ONE OF THE TALPIOT OSSUARIES
HAS DISAPPEARED. Gibson: COUNTING THESE... ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR, FIVE,
SIX, SEVEN, EIGHT, NINE, TEN. WE HAVE TEN OSSUARIES HERE.
EACH... Narrator: BUT THE VISITS TO
THE BET SHEMESH WAREHOUSE HAVE TURNED UP A STRANGE ERROR
IN THE RECORDS. I WENT TO THE... STOREROOMS OF THE ISRAEL ANTIQUITIES
AUTHORITY IN BET SHEMESH. THEY PROVIDED ME WITH THIS
COMPUTER SHEET WHICH INDICATES THAT FROM THIS
TOMB, THERE ARE NINE ITEMS, IT SAYS
IT QUITE CLEARLY. "NUMBER OF ITEMS: NINE". AND IT HAS THE DESCRIPTION OF
THESE... THESE OSSUARIES AND WHERE
THEY'RE LOCATED IN THE STOREROOMS. Narrator: SOMEHOW, SOMEWHERE, ONE OF THE TALPIOT OSSUARIES
WENT MISSING. AND IT IS WITH THIS MISSING
OSSUARY THAT A NEW MYSTERY BEGINS. PERHAPS THE OSSUARY WAS
STOLEN. MAYBE A WORKER AT THE SITE IN
1980 HAD LIGHT FINGERS. OSSUARIES CAN FETCH FAIRLY
HIGH PRICES IN THE ANTIQUITIES MARKET. AND IN OCTOBER 2002, A CHALKY LIMESTONE OSSUARY SURFACED FROM A PRIVATE
COLLECTION. IT BORE THE INSCRIPTION, "JAMES, SON OF JOSEPH, BROTHER
OF JESUS." ODED GOLAN, A WELL-KNOWN
COLLECTOR, STATED THAT HE HAD BOUGHT THE
OSSUARY FROM AN ARAB ANTIQUITIES
DEALER IN THE OLD CITY OF JERUSALEM
DECADES BEFORE, BUT HAD BEEN UNAWARE OF THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE
INSCRIPTION. IT WAS AMONG THE FIRST
OSSUARIES THAT I HAVE IN MY COLLECTION. I DIDN'T PUT ANY SPECIAL
ATTENTION TO THIS OSSUARY BECAUSE THE THREE NAMES WHICH ARE MENTIONED ON THE
OSSUARY, WHICH ARE YA'ACOV, YOSEF AND
YESHU YESHUA ARE VERY COMMON NAME IN THE
FIRST CENTURY. AND THEREFORE, I COULDN'T EVEN
THINK THAT IT COULD BELONG TO THE
FAMILY OF JESUS AND AT THE SAME TIME, I NEVER
KNEW THAT JESUS HAD A BROTHER OR
SIBLINGS OF ANY KIND. Narrator: AFTER JESUS' DEATH, HIS BROTHER JAMES TOOK OVER
HIS MINISTRY AND GATHERED A LARGE FOLLOWING AS THE UNDISPUTED LEADER OF
THE JESUS MOVEMENT. LATER CHRISTIAN WRITINGS TELL
US THAT HE WAS RESPECTED BY EARLY
CHRISTIANS AS WELL AS THE JEWISH
PHARISEES. AND FIRST CENTURY JEWISH
HISTORIAN, JOSEPHUS, SPENDS MORE TIME ON JAMES THAN
ON JESUS. BUT JUST LIKE HIS BROTHER
JESUS, IT WAS FEAR OF HIS RELIGIOUS
POPULARITY AND INFLUENCE THAT LED TO HIS DEATH. IN WHAT WAS WIDELY VIEWED AS
AN ACT OF JUDICIAL MURDER, THE TEMPLE HIGH PRIEST,
ANANUS, CONDEMNED JAMES AND HAD HIM EXECUTED IN
JERUSALEM... BY STONING. THE NUMEROUS ACCOUNTS OF
JAMES' LIFE SHOW AN EARLY CHRISTIAN OF
SUCH IMPORTANCE THAT IF IT WAS AT ALL
POSSIBLE, HE WOULD MOST CERTAINLY HAVE BEEN LAID BESIDE JESUS IN
DEATH. [ Mixed chatter ] Narrator: IT WASN'T UNTIL 2002 THAT A HIGHLY- CREDITED
SCHOLAR VIEWED ODED GOLAN'S COLLECTION AND SUGGESTED THAT THE JAMES
OSSUARY MIGHT BELONG TO THE FAMILY OF
JESUS OF NAZARETH. AND SO BEGAN WHAT IS NOW A
FAMOUS CONTROVERSY, A BATTLE OF SCHOLARS AND
SCIENCE OVER THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE
JAMES OSSUARY. THE JAMES OSSUARY, WHERE DID
IT COME FROM? THE COLLECTOR WHO OWNED IT, ODED GOLAN, WELL-PUBLICIZED, SAYS HE GOT IT AROUND 1980, SOMETIMES HE SAID BEFORE OR
AFTER, BUT HEY, AROUND 1980. OUR TOMB WAS DISCOVERED IN
1980. THERE'S A MISSING OSSUARY. THE ISRAELI ANTIQUITIES CAN'T
FIND IT. NOW, MAYBE THEY'LL FIND IT IN
THE BACK OF A WAREHOUSE. BUT I CHECKED THE DIMENSIONS, I WAS JUST CURIOUS. THE MISSING OSSUARY WAS
CATALOGUED. IT'S JUST GONE. THE DIMENSIONS OF THAT OSSUARY ARE THE SAME AS THE JAMES
OSSUARY. NOW, A LOT OF PEOPLE HAVE
CONCLUDED, EXPERTS, THAT THE JAMES OSSUARY IS A
FORGERY. BUT NOBODY SAYS IT'S ALL A
FORGERY. AND THE POSITION NOW OF THE
ISRAEL ANTIQUITIES AUTHORITY IS THAT IT ORIGINALLY SAID
"JAMES, SON OF JOSEPH". I WOULD BE FINE WITH THAT. I MEAN, YOU THINK ABOUT IT. WE'VE GOT THESE SIX NAMES. IF THE "JAMES, SON OF
JOSEPH"... FORGET "BROTHER OF JESUS". SEE, WHAT THE OSSUARY SAYS, "JAMES, SON OF JOSEPH, BROTHER
OF JESUS". SOME PEOPLE SAY, WELL, THE
BROTHER OF JESUS, MAYBE THAT WAS ADDED. IT WOULDN'T MATTER. OBVIOUSLY, IT'D BE THE BROTHER
OF JESUS. YOU'VE GOT A JESUS, A JOSEPH, A JAMES, SON OF JOSEPH, IF IT WERE FROM THIS TOMB. NOW WE'RE SPECULATING... BUT THE TIME IS RIGHT, THE
NAME IS RIGHT AND THAT, I THINK, WOULD
REALLY MAKE IT FAIRLY CLEAR THAT THIS IS THE
JESUS FAMILY. Narrator: BUT WHAT WOULD IT
TAKE TO DETERMINE WHETHER THE JAMES
OSSUARY ORIGINATED IN THE TALPIOT
TOMB? THE DATE AND THE RECORDED
DIMENSIONS ARE EXTREMELY SUGGESTIVE, BUT
IT'S THE PATINA THAT SHOULD PROVE THE CASE ONE
WAY OR ANOTHER. OVER TIME, IN A TOMB, MINERALS AND SEDIMENT
ACCUMULATE ON OSSUARIES. THIS ACCUMULATION IS CALLED
PATINA AND IT CAN BE SCIENTIFICALLY
ANALYSED TO PRODUCE A CHEMICAL AND
MINERAL FINGERPRINT SPECIFIC TO AN OSSUARY OR
TOMB. EVERY OSSUARY DISCOVERED IN A
PARTICULAR TOMB WILL HAVE THE SAME PATINA
FINGERPRINT. THE SAMPLES TAKEN FROM THE
JAMES OSSUARY SHOW CERTAIN TRACE MATERIALS
SUCH AS TITANIUM AND IRON THAT ARE UNIQUE TO THE JAMES
OSSUARY. IF THE JAMES PATINA MATCHES THE OSSUARIES FROM THE
TALPIOT TOMB, IT WILL BE STRONG EVIDENCE
THAT THE JAMES OSSUARY IS THE MISSING BONE BOX AND BELONGS TO THE FAMILY OF
JESUS. DR. CHARLES PELLEGRINO HAS COME TO THE BET SHEMESH
WAREHOUSE IN ISRAEL TO COLLECT PATINA SAMPLES FROM THE TALPIOT TOMB
OSSUARIES. I CAN GET A LOT OF THE DEBRIS
FROM HERE. LOOK AT THIS, CHARLIE. THAT'S
PATINA. THAT WOULD BE GOOD. YES,
EXCELLENT. THIS IS 8503, THE INSCRIPTION OF "JESUS, SON
OF JOSEPH". IT'S JUST ONE OF THOSE MOMENTS WHERE YOU'RE STRUCK TO A KIND
OF SILENCE, UH, KNOWING THAT YOU'RE
HOLDING THE CHEMICAL HISTORY FROM THE OSSUARY THAT MAY
ACTUALLY HAVE CONTAINED THE REMAINS OF JESUS OF
NAZARETH. Narrator: AT DR. PELLEGRINO'S
REQUEST, WE COMMISSIONED THE COLLECTION
OF RANDOM PATINA SAMPLES TO DETERMINE WHETHER THE
TALPIOT TOMB PATINA IS REALLY DISTINCT. Man: THIS... PATINA. THAT IS PLENTY FOR CHARLIE TO
WORK IN ON THE ELECTRON MICROSCOPE. Narrator: IF THE RANDOM
SAMPLES DO NOT MATCH THE TALPIOT
OSSUARIES WHILE THE JAMES SAMPLES DO, THEN THE STATISTICAL
PROBABILITIES THAT THE JESUS FAMILY TOMB HAS
BEEN FOUND WILL BE OVERWHELMING. Feuerverger: IF IT WERE
POSSIBLE TO OBTAIN EVIDENCE THAT THE JAMES OSSUARY MIGHT BE THIS MISSING OSSUARY, THEN THIS WOULD HAVE A VERY
STRONG ADDITIONAL DEGREE OF
EVIDENTIARY VALUE. UM, I WOULD SAY THAT THAT WOULD BE AN ABSOLUTE
SLAM-DUNK IF THAT WERE IN FACT SHOWN TO
BE THE CASE. [ ♪ ♪ ] Narrator: THE SUFFOLK CRIME
LAB IS A LEADING AMERICAN CSI LAB INVOLVED IN SOLVING MODERN DAY
CRIME MYSTERIES. TODAY, IT WILL USE ITS
FORENSIC EXPERTISE TO DETERMINE HOW THE PATINA
FROM THE JAMES OSSUARY AND THE PATINA FROM THE RANDOM
SAMPLES COMPARE TO THE TALPIOT
OSSUARIES. Pellegrino: DID YOU SEE THAT
PCE? IT HAD, SORT OF, LIKE... THAT TUNNEL RUNNING THROUGH
IT? Man: YES. DO YOU WANT TO TAKE ANOTHER
SAMPLE OUT OF THIS CONTAINER OR IS
THAT SUFFICIENT? YEAH, I THINK THAT'S ENOUGH. ALL RIGHT. YEAH, I THINK THAT'LL DO. YEAH, MOUNTED JUST AS IS. SO, THAT PCE WILL BE GOOD TO
LOOK AT. WELL, RIGHT NOW WE'RE JUST
TAKING OTHER SAMPLES OF THE ACCRETION FROM INSIDE
THE OSSUARY. IRON IS PART OF THE SIGNATURE THAT GIVES THE SOIL THAT
DISTINCTIVE COLOUR. WE NOW HAVE IT FROM THIS TOMB. WE HAVE IT FROM THE OSSUARIES
FROM THIS TOMB. WE'RE JUST TAKING OTHER
SAMPLES AND WE'RE GOING TO LOOK AT
THEM UNDER THE SCANNING ELECTRON
MICROSCOPE AND PING THEM WITH THE
ELECTRON MICROPROBE. [ ♪ ♪ ] Genna: WHAT WE'RE LOOKING AT
HERE NOW IS THE SPECTRUM OF THE PATINA
SAMPLE THAT WE JUST ANALYSED. THIS IS PREDOMINANTLY A
LIMESTONE MATERIAL, CORRECT, CHARLIE? YEAH. IT'S WHAT'S CALLED THE
JERUSALEM CHALK. IT'S A VERY SOFT LIMESTONE. BUT WHAT I FIND INTERESTING IS THE SMALL TRACE MATERIALS THAT WE ARE LOCATING HERE, AS OPPOSED TO THE GENERAL
LIMESTONE PROPERTIES THAT YOU WOULD EXPECT TO FIND. WE'RE NOTICING IRON, TITANIUM,
POTASSIUM, PHOSPHOROUS, MAGNESIUM. SO FAR, THE ELEMENTAL
COMPOSITION THAT WE ANALYSED WITH THIS
PARTICULAR SECTION OF PATINA IS CONSISTENT WITH THE TRACE
MATERIALS THAT WE FOUND IN THE JAMES
OSSUARY. Pellegrino: THE SIGNATURE'S
THE SAME. IT MATCHES. Narrator: THE PATINA SAMPLES
FROM THE TALPIOT TOMB MATCH WITH THE JAMES OSSUARY. BUT WHAT ABOUT THE RANDOM
SAMPLES? AS IT TURNS OUT, NONE OF THEM
MATCH TALPIOT. THE SAME CHEMICAL AND MINERAL
SPIKES AS THAT OF THE TALPIOT TOMB ARE EXHIBITED ONLY BY THE
JAMES PATINA. THIS IS KEY EVIDENCE INDICATING THAT THE OSSUARY
INSCRIBED "JAMES, SON OF JOSEPH, BROTHER
OF JESUS" IS THE MISSING OSSUARY FROM
THE TALPIOT TOMB. WHEN THE JAMES OSSUARY IS
INCLUDED IN OUR STATISTICAL MODEL, THE PROBABILITY FACTOR CHANGES FROM 600 TO 1 IN FAVOUR OF THE
TOMB TO 30,000 TO 1, STRONGLY SUGGESTING THAT THIS
TOMB BELONGED TO THE FAMILY OF
JESUS OF NAZARETH. [ ♪ ♪ ] [ Rustling ] OH, MY GOD. OH, MY GOODNESS. AWESOME, ISN'T IT? YEAH. IT'S... LOOK, ONE, TWO, THREE. THESE NICHES, THE KOKHIM, TWO HERE, TWO HERE, TWO HERE. EXACTLY SIX, ALL IN ALL. LOOK, TWO DEATH NICHES WHERE YOU LAY OUT THE BODY. JESUS' BODY, MARY'S BODY WOULD
HAVE BEEN THERE. LOOK AT THIS. AND THEN LOOK OVER HERE. OKAY. THIS IS IT. THIS IS ABSOLUTELY
IT. A JEWEL OF A TOMB. LOOK AT IT. IT'S PRETTY DEEP. YEP. Golubev: THOSE KOKHIM ARE VERY
DEEP. I DIDN'T REALIZE THAT. LOOK AT THAT, FELIX. WHAT IS THAT? Golubev: THERE'S AN INCISION. THERE'S AN INSCRIPTION HERE. THIS IS GREEK. THAT'S AN "M". THAT'S AN "N". A GREEK "N". IS IT "N" OR "M"? "M". AND WHAT'S THIS? WE NEED AN EPIGRAPHER IN HERE. THIS IS OLD. Golubev: TWO, THREE, FOUR,
FIVE, SIX LETTERS. IT'S EITHER GREEK OR LATIN. IT'S CERTAINLY NOT HEBREW. Narrator: LOOKING AROUND, WE
NOTICED THAT WE WERE SITTING ON MOUNDS OF DECOMPOSING PAGES OF
SCRIPTURE. WHAT IS THAT? SHINE THAT
THERE. SHINE IT DOWN. LOOK AT THAT, FELIX. THIS IS FULL OF HOLY BOOKS. DISINTEGRATING HOLY BOOKS. Narrator: ACCORDING TO JEWISH
LAW, BIBLICAL BOOKS CANNOT BE
DISCARDED. THEY HAVE TO BE BURIED LIKE
HUMANS. IT SEEMS THAT IN THE WEEKS FOLLOWING THE REMOVAL OF THE
OSSUARIES AND BEFORE THE TOMB WAS
RESEALED, A LOCAL RABBINICAL SCHOOL
FILLED THE TOMB WITH DAMAGED HOLY TEXTS. AMONG THEM, WE FOUND A BOOK THAT JESUS REFERS TO AS THE
KEY TO HIS MINISTRY. IT'S THE BOOK OF "JONAH". JESUS SAYS IN THE GOSPELS: "IF YOU WANT TO KNOW..." HIS APOSTLES SAY, "WHAT ARE
YOU UP TO, MASTER?" AND HE SAYS, "YOU WANT TO KNOW
WHAT I'M UP TO? READ THE BOOK OF 'JONAH'." THAT'S... THAT'S THE CODE. AND RIGHT HERE WE HAVE THE
BOOK OF "JONAH". Narrator: THE GOSPELS RECORD
THAT JESUS CONSTANTLY SPOKE IN PARABLES AND CODES. NOT SURPRISING, FOR A LEADER OF WHAT TODAY WOULD BE
LABELLED AN ANTI- GOVERNMENT
MOVEMENT, A MAN DESTINED FOR
CRUCIFIXION. AND THOSE WHO SPEAK IN CODES OFTEN HARBOUR GREAT SECRETS. [ ♪ ♪ ] [ ♪ ♪ ] Narrator: DURING THE RUSHED
EXCAVATIONS IN 1980, ARCHAEOLOGISTS REMOVED FROM
THE TALPIOT TOMB THE LAST OSSUARY WITH AN
INSCRIPTION. THE OSSUARY BELONGED TO A
CHILD. AT THE IAA ROCKEFELLER MUSEUM, THE INSCRIPTION WAS
TRANSLATED: "YEHUDA BAR YESHUA". YES, YEHUDA BAR YESHUA COMES INTO ENGLISH AS "JUDAH,
SON OF JESUS". Narrator: "JUDAH, SON OF
JESUS". THE NEW TESTAMENT DOESN'T SAY
THAT JESUS HAD A SON, BUT PERHAPS, IN THIS INSTANCE, ARCHAEOLOGY FORCES US TO THROW A DIFFERENT LIGHT ON THE NEW TESTAMENT. COULD THIS BONE BOX HAVE ONCE
HELD THE REMAINS OF THE SON OF JESUS AND MARY
MAGDALENE? IF JUDAH WAS THEIR SON, HIS EXISTENCE WOULD MOST
CERTAINLY HAVE BEEN KEPT SECRET. SINCE JESUS WAS PERCEIVED TO BE A PRETENDER TO THE ROYAL
THRONE, JESUS' SON WOULD HAVE BEEN A
TARGET OF ARREST AND CRUCIFIXION BY ROMAN
AUTHORITIES. IT WAS A TIME OF GREAT
PERSECUTION. ANYONE ASSOCIATED WITH JESUS'
MINISTRY WAS THREATENED. HIS COUSIN, JOHN THE BAPTIST,
BEHEADED. JAMES, THE BROTHER OF JESUS,
STONED TO DEATH. SIMON, ANOTHER BROTHER,
CRUCIFIED. IF THEY WERE PARENTS, JESUS
AND MARY WOULD HAVE KNOWN THAT LEAKING
KNOWLEDGE OF THE BIRTH OF THEIR CHILD WOULD HAVE PUT THE CHILD AT
TERRIBLE RISK. SO PERHAPS THE UNNAMED
"BELOVED DISCIPLE" REFERRED TO IN THE BOOK OF
"JOHN" IS ACTUALLY THE SON OF
JESUS... WHO REMAINS UNNAMED IN THE
TEXT TO CONCEAL THE CHILD'S
LINEAGE. IN "JOHN", 19:26, JESUS ASKS THE BELOVED
DISCIPLE AT THE BASE OF THE CROSS TO BEHOLD HIS MOTHER. HE THEN SAYS TO MARY: [ Speaking in foreign language
] Narrator: "WOMAN..." [ Speaking in foreign language
] Narrator: "BEHOLD YOUR SON." TRADITIONALLY, THIS SCENE HAS
BEEN UNDERSTOOD AS JESUS ADDRESSING MARY, HIS
MOTHER. BUT CAN THIS BE LATER
THEOLOGY? COULD IT BE THAT JESUS WAS
TALKING TO MARY MAGDALENE, HIS WIFE, ASKING HER TO PROTECT THEIR
SON? ON THE OTHER HAND, MAYBE THE FACT THAT THERE WAS
A SON IN THE TALPIOT TOMB MEANS THAT THE JESUS FOUND IN
THIS TOMB IS NOT JESUS OF NAZARETH. ACCORDINGLY, WE WOULD HAVE TO
BELIEVE THAT LIVING AROUND THE SAME
TIME, IN THE SAME PLACE, THERE WAS ANOTHER JESUS, WHO ALSO HAD A FATHER NAMED
JOSEPH, AND TWO CLOSE MALE RELATIVES
NAMED JAMES AND JOSE. AND TWO WOMEN IN HIS LIFE, ONE CALLED MARIA AND THE OTHER
MARIAMNE. [ ♪ ♪ ] [ Muffled shouts ] Jacobovici: WHAT'S THAT NOISE? I THINK THEY'RE GETTING UPSET
THAT WE'RE IN HERE. I'LL GO. I'LL GO TALK TO THEM. Narrator: ONE OF THE TENANTS
IN THE TALPIOT APARTMENTS WORKS FOR THE ISRAEL
ANTIQUITIES AUTHORITY. AND EVEN THOUGH WE HAVE
PERMISSION FROM THE TENANT BOARD, SHE'S CALLED IN THE IAA. Narrator: IT WAS THE TALPIOT
APARTMENT OWNERS, WHO, OUT OF CONCERN FOR THEIR
CHILDREN'S SAFETY, ARRANGED FOR THIS TOMB TO BE
SEALED, A TOMB THAT THE IAA HAD LEFT
OPEN IN 1980. OBTAINING PERMISSION FROM THE
IAA TO OPEN A TOMB THEY NEVER
SEALED, SEEMS UNNECESSARY. BUT DESPITE OUR PLEAS, WE WERE ASKED TO COVER IT
AGAIN. OKAY. [ Speaking in foreign
language ] THE TOMB THAT ARGUABLY ONCE
HELD THE REMAINS OF MARY, THE MOTHER OF JESUS, MATTHEW, FROM MARY'S FAMILY
LINE, JOSE AND JAMES, THE BROTHERS
OF JESUS, MARY MAGDALENE, HER HUSBAND,
JESUS, AND JUDAH, THEIR SON, IS SEALED UP AGAIN. WHO KNOWS WHAT SECRETS ARE
STILL INSIDE, AND FOR HOW LONG THEY WILL BE
KEPT HIDDEN UNDER THE TALPIOT APARTMENTS? [ ♪ ♪ ]
