The Jordan Lead Codices Information Page

There is one thing I have been able to keep up with while I have been away and that is the issue of the Jordan Lead Codices.  I have been privileged to be among those bloggers who have been discussing this issue and I have been cheering from the sidelines while some really great work has been taking place, explaining clearly and decisively why the evidence demonstrates that these are fake.  Now Steve Caruso has gathered the key information together in one place:

The Jordan Lead Codices Information Page

Thanks to Steve and everyone else involved for putting information out there in such a clear and accessible way.

Fake Jordan Lead Codices: The Video

Tom Verenna has put an excellent video together explaining why the Jordan Lead Codices are fakes. It summarizes the evidence so far gathered in a clear and nicely illustrated fashion. It's just under ten minutes long:


Thanks, Tom, for the hard work you have put into this.

Lead Codices and the Media

Thomas Verenna has an excellent article in Bible and Interpretation on the fake metal codices, with special emphasis on the media failure to check with the experts:

Artifacts and the Media: Lead Codices and the Public Portrayal of History

The Jordan Metal Plates and a Plastic Crocodile

One of my favourite recent posts on the Jordanian Lead Codices is this one from David Hamblin:

Jordan Metal Plates 4: Crocodile?

in which he suggests that a plastic crocodile might have been used to make one of the images.

For an excellent recent round-up of the issues, with links, see this post from Daniel O. McClellan:

Thoughts on the Jordan Lead Codices

and this one from Tom Verenna:

New Round-up on Lead Codices and Additional Information

Davila's Random Thoughts on the Fake Metal Codices

Pick of the day: Jim Davila's fantastic post, Random Thoughts on the Fake Metal Codices over on Paleojudaica.

Update (Saturday 2.11pm): Daniel O. McClellan brings into a post of its own something that he had previously noted in comments, to the following effect:

Besides the numerous reasons Elkington’s credibility has been eradicated, at least one portion of the bronze plate analyzed by Thonemann was pressed or cast from the exact same die or mold as one of the lead plates currently making the rounds. Below you can see the tree from the old bronze plate and the tree from one of the newer lead plates. They are absolutely identical. They ca me from the exact same die or mold. The lead plates are forgeries just like the bronze plates.

Daniel has helpful illustrations too. Great work.

The Lead Codices a Fake

It has been fascinating to see how the story of the lead codices has been examined on the blogs and already found wanting. I agree with James McGrath:

The biblioblogging community should be proud. It seems that yet again the collective effort of scholars and other interested parties with blogs has shed more light on an issue than the media or any one individual managed to, and has done so quickly and effectively. The next time someone asks "Why blog?" I will mention this as an example of the sort of thing that makes blogging worthwhile for all.

If you have not been following the latest developments, here are the key recent links (i.e. yesterday and today) in the blogs, all of which also have additional links:

Daniel O. McClellan: Peter Thonemann on the Lead Codices

Paleojudaica: Hebrew-Inscribed-Metal-Codices Watch: A Fake

Paleojudaica: Hebrew-Inscribed-Metal Codices Watch

Forbidden Gospels: Lead Codices? Come on!

Very well done to the bloggers who managed quickly to get on top of this story, in spite of the thin reporting, confusion and misinformation in much of the media.

More on the lead codices from Jordan

There is more on the lead codices around on the blogs.  Three worth mentioning -- Exploring Our Matrix, Larry Hurtado's Blog, and a great post on Rogue Classicism, Lead Codices Silliness.

Inscribed lead plates from Jordan

BBC News today has the following story, with thanks to Michael Thompson for the link:

Jordan battles to regain 'priceless' Christian relics
By Robert Pigott

A group of 70 or so "books", each with between five and 15 lead leaves bound by lead rings, was apparently discovered in a remote arid valley in northern Jordan somewhere between 2005 and 2007.

A flash flood had exposed two niches inside the cave, one of them marked with a menorah or candlestick, the ancient Jewish religious symbol.

A Jordanian Bedouin opened these plugs, and what he found inside might constitute extremely rare relics of early Christianity.

This feature has a few new pictures. Previous news and comments on this often garbled and still very murky story are found on Paleojudaica (and follow the links for more), Jim West's blog (with a link to Bob Cargill, and here and here).

I have no idea what to make of this given the current very thin reporting and conflicting information, but will be keeping an interested eye.