AUTHENTICATION OF AN INSCRIBED IVORY POMEGRANATE FROM THE FIRST TEMPLE PERIOD

An inscribed ivory pomegranate “Holy to the priests, the Temple of [Yahwe]h” was authenticated by several prominent world renowned archaeologists and epigraphers in the 1980s and has been on exhibition in the Israel Museum, Jerusalem, since 1988. Some minimalist scholars along with the Israel Antiquity Authority accused various collectors and dealers of forging important artifacts (including the pomegranate). This resulted in a court case in Jerusalem that lasted for seven years, encompassed 120 sessions, 128 expert witnesses, hundreds of scientific reports and exhibits and more than 13,000 protocol pages. On March 14th, 2012 the accusers were acquitted of forging the artifacts by an extremely detailed verdict of 475 pages. The prosecution experts’ main argument for forgery, stable isotope analysis, was determined to be an invalid method for assessing forged artifacts. The presence of the element P found in the coating of the inscribed ivory pomegranate (a hippopotamus task) indicates the existence of carbonate apatite. The elements: Si, Ca, O, C, Al, Mg, Na, P, K, Fe, Cu and Sn might well be indicative of marine and continental carbonates, clays, corroded bronze and organic material. This composition is to be expected in an authentic patina developed in a tel-like environment. The glue in the patina was applied to the pomegranate by a restorer during treatment for preservation and is by no means an indication of forgery. These archaeometric observations strengthen the contention that the pomegranate and its inscription are genuine. Moreover, new microscopic images of the pomegranate taken in the Israel Museum in 2007 indicate that the inscription does not stop short of an ancient crack; the letters do go into across the break indicating that the inscription must have been engraved before the break occurred. The well-known occurrence of fragile concentric dentine layers in ivory act as a deterrence to forgers due to the risk of spalling.