Based on new and ongoing research, the ratio of Pb (Lead) isotopes in the bones of those in the Talpiot Jesus Family tomb match the ancient water supply of Sepphoris/Nazareth, not that of Jerusalem. This is a segment of a lecture given by Moshe Sharif, retired geologist from the Geologic Survey of Israel, , based on the work of Aryeh Shimron. It is in Hebrew.
This lecture is in Hebrew, For English or other auto-translations follow these two easy steps on a Laptop or Desktop. I am not sure if it works on other devices, but see English translation below the video if not:
1. Click the Gear button and under subtitles choose Hebrew (auto-generated), turning them ON
2. Click then Hebrew (auto-generated) and you will see the option to, Auto-translate, then choose language in dropdown menu.
On my recent trip to Israel I discussed these findings with senior Israel Antiquities authorities who are committed to scientific tests and results, not theories or speculations about this or any tomb. At minimum this would show that this particular “Jesus” grouping originated in the Galilee, not in Jerusalem. I have excavated at Sepphoris, three seasons, with the late Jim Strange and his team, taking my UNC Charlotte students, and one of the things we did each season was tour the amazing water systems of Sepphoris.
“Lead, which is denoted by the symbol Pb. Lead — why is it important in our subject? Lead, as we all know now — we are all experts in uranium — just as uranium has two isotopes, one that produces nuclear radiation and the other that does not, uranium-235 and uranium-238, so lead in nature occurs in four different isotopes. But when you do an analysis for lead, you never separate between the isotopes; you just say “lead.” But, to obtain a chemical signature of lead from here or from there, you must conduct a test of the ratios between the different isotopes of the lead. Now, why is this important? Lead in the human body is concentrated — all the lead in the human body is concentrated in the skeleton. And it reaches the skeleton through the water that we drink during our lives. That is, if for the past decades I have been drinking the water of Tel Aviv, in my skeleton you can find lead with the isotopic composition of the water of Tel Aviv. Now, in these ossuaries that we examined, in which we held the bones in our hands, it is possible to test the lead. But how will we know which water that person drank? And here, to our great good fortune, Aryeh Shimron, from earlier years of collaboration with archaeologists, had data on water systems in different places in the country. Why? Because there is archaeological significance to the plaster that coats the different water systems. It is possible to date — what Aryeh actually did was help archaeologists distinguish between Roman plaster, First Temple plaster, and so forth — based on the chemical properties of the plaster. But among other things, Aryeh Shimron also carried out highly precise analyses of lead from the plaster of water systems in different places in the country. And here is what happened — bingo. They do ratios between the different isotopes of lead: 207 and 206 compared to 208 and 206. So, according to Aryeh’s analyses, the water systems of Jerusalem fall in this field, and he also had an analysis of the water system of Sepphoris, of Nazareth. Sepphoris — the springs of Sepphoris supplied water for centuries to ancient Nazareth. And when we do analyses of the bone remains of Jesus and of James his brother — what a wonder — they do not fall within the field of Jerusalem; they fall within the field of Sepphoris. That is, these people, for a large part of their lives, were in the region of Nazareth and drank water from the springs that supplied water to Nazareth. In other words, if anyone still thinks this is not the family of Jesus, then in our opinion this is the final nail in the coffin — or in the ossuary. These people drank water — they were not just some family in Jerusalem, they did not drink the water of Jerusalem most of the time. They drank most of the time the water of Nazareth.”
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