Tuesday 7 August 2012

Jordan Keeping Jolly Quiet About Silly "Lead Codices"

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Members of the Society for Old Testament Study have sent a letter to the Editor of the Times asking Jordan to release information relating to the so called ‘Lead Codices’. In my opinion they are crude fakes and an imposition. Not all SOTS members are so sure of this, but that aside, the call on Jordan to make information known still stands.
It is a year or more since reports of the discovery of at least 40 lead codices, apparently found in Jordan and possibly of ancient provenance, but currently in illegal private possession. [...] Since the discovery became known, there has been silence from the Jordanian authorities, who, we understand, have identified the site where they were once deposited, and have taken possession of additional codices from the same collection. The lack of any official announcement is strange, and  [...]  We ask the authorities in Amman to make an immediate and detailed statement about the finds and their intentions regarding them.

Concerning the current silence of the Jordanian Government about the metal codices Jim Dayila on the Palaeojudaica blog notes:
Since they were quite vocal about the importance of the finds initially, their subsequent silence is indeed noteworthy. My guess is that they have figured out that the codices are fakes and are just keeping quiet and hoping the whole issue goes away and spares them further embarrassment. If I am wrong, it would be helpful to hear what they do think and what they are currently doing about the codices, and to that extent I can support the central point of the letter. But I am not optimistic about the Jordanian authorities providing any important new information.
Nor I, but it is worth noting that very soon the 17th World Archaeological Congress will be held in Jordan.

Sources:
Call on Jordan to break its Silence – Letter to the Editor Published in The Times, 1 August 2012
Members of the Society for Old Testament Study Call on Jordan to Release Information on the ‘Lead Codices’, Zwinglius Redivivus 01/08/2012
Jim Dayila, 'The fake metal codices and SOTS, PalaeoJudaica Monday, August 06, 2012

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