Despite objections, dig will go ahead at 'mystical' grave(Via Joseph I. Lauer's list.)
By JOSIAH RYAN (Jerusalem Post)
An agreement struck between the Tiberias Magistrate's Court and a Tzipori land-owner on Monday will allow the excavation of a tomb that may contain the remains of famed 3rd century Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi to begin next month.
The work at the site, which features a clear inscription of the rabbi's name on the lintel and reportedly contains a terra cotta sarcophagus, may trigger significant opposition throughout the religious community, experts and religious authorities said on Tuesday.
"This is an important site," Antiquities Authority director Dr. Uzi Dahari, who personally holds the license to the dig, told The Jerusalem Post after the court's decision. "We don't know what's in there yet, but it could be very, very, significant. It may be Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi, but it's impossible to know for sure until we dig."
[...]
Sounds like a messy, complicated situation. From earlier coverage of the Aramaic inscription, it seems far from clear that this is the grave of the third-century rabbi. Background here.
