Looted ossuaries recovered

BUSTED: Police confiscate ancient coffins from tomb raiders in Jerusalem (Daniel K. Eisenbud, Jerusalem Post).

2,000 year old coffins containing Jewish bones, artifacts plundered from burial cave near Jerusalem.

Over 2,000 years following their entombments in a Jerusalem cave, 11 ossuaries dating back to the Second Temple period containing the skeletal remains of members of a Jewish family were stolen by Palestinian looters for sale to Jewish buyers on the black market.

As a result, the two Arab men who stole the chests remain in jail, while the two Jews who colluded with them to buy and then sell them are under house arrest, the Antiquities Authority said Monday.

[...]

“We have 11 here, but we know of more than 1,000 found in Jerusalem,” Klein said. “In fact, 10 years ago we found the area where the coffins were carved by artists.”

Several of the ossuaries had their lids taken off, exposing the delicate bone fragments of each person. However, only two of the chests had the person’s name inscribed in Hebrew on its side.

“This one says Yoezer, which we know was a common Jewish name during the Second Temple period,” Klein said as he pointed to the still visible inscription, which was also carved in Greek. “The name Ralfin is on the other one, but we only have their first names.”

[...]

New ossuaries from Jerusalem are always an exciting find, assuming they are genuine. And the circumstances here certainly point in that direction. But its a pity their provenance and archaeological context are now lost. Well done to the police who spotted them.