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CNN Sunday Morning

Interview With Molly Meinhardt

Aired October 27, 2002 - 11:50   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: The Biblical Archaeology Society broke the story about the bone box in one of its magazines, "The Biblical Archaeology Review." You see it there. And Molly Meinhardt, one of the Society's managing editors is with us now from Washington to talk more about the discover.
Molly, this is very exciting. It could be the oldest archaeological link to Jesus.

MOLLY MEINHARDT, BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY SOCIETY: That's right. And I hope that comes across. But this box is dated to about 63 A.D. based on a first century history that tells us when James died. The next mention of Jesus that we have dates to about 125 A.D., more than 60 years later and that's a tiny, tiny fragment from the gospel of John. So this box is evidence of Jesus -- that like nothing else we have on record.

COLLINS: So what about the box itself then? What characteristics of that box point to an accurate dating of 63?

MEINHARDT: Well, this is -- the box is called an ossuary or a bone box and it's a box that we've used just -- these types of boxes were used for a very short period from 20 B.C. to 70 A.D. in Jerusalem. This was a short-lived but common burial practice among Jewish families where a body at death would be laid out in a family cave tomb, probably laid out in a niche carved into the wall or an a burial shelf. The body would be allowed to decompose for a year, and then the family would go back and gather the bones together and place them in a box. Presumably, they did this to make room for more bodies in the tomb. So the box itself dates to between -- these types of boxes date between 20 B.C. and 70 A.D.

The next factor for dating is the inscription. The epigrapher, (UNINTELLIGIBLE), who's a leading expert in these Aramaic or Hebrew inscriptions has dated it, the inscription, to -- between about 50 and 70 A.D. He says the lettering -- some of the letters are only used in that very short time period. So between the box itself and inscription, the date comes to somewhere right around where the first century historian tells us James did die.

COLLINS: And of course, that inscription once again says, "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus." And that's the part that's significant because as Garrick Utley was saying, James and Joseph were common names. But the fact that Jesus was on there is very significant. MEINHARDT: Absolutely. We have approximately 800 ossuaries from this type period, 250 or so have inscriptions. Two of them, including this one, mention the brother. It's very, very rare to mention the brother and that's what gets people saying, "Why would you mention the brother unless he was extremely important or if the family had very great desire to be associated with that brother in perpetuity?"

COLLINS: And what about -- we had just heard that there were no bones obviously found in the box. Any way to do carbon dating or how are we going to get a closer fix on the time frame?

MEINHARDT: Yes, without the bones -- without any organic material we really can't do any other dating on the box. So unfortunately, no, but we know it's definitely between 20 and 70. And the -- the science of paleography is very accurate in dating inscriptions too. So with that, we know it's in the few decades before the Romans destroying the temple in 70 A.D. so.

COLLINS: Can you talk at all about the value of the box?

MEINHARDT: The dealer bought it for a few hundred dollars. I don't know. I don't know what it would be worth today in an auction.

COLLINS: Right. He paid just a couple bucks for it. You never know. Could be worth a whole heck of a lot more. All right, Molly Meinhardt, we certainly do appreciate your expertise on this, just fascinating stuff. Thank you, again.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com








Aired October 27, 2002 - 11:50   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: The Biblical Archaeology Society broke the story about the bone box in one of its magazines, "The Biblical Archaeology Review." You see it there. And Molly Meinhardt, one of the Society's managing editors is with us now from Washington to talk more about the discover.
Molly, this is very exciting. It could be the oldest archaeological link to Jesus.

MOLLY MEINHARDT, BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY SOCIETY: That's right. And I hope that comes across. But this box is dated to about 63 A.D. based on a first century history that tells us when James died. The next mention of Jesus that we have dates to about 125 A.D., more than 60 years later and that's a tiny, tiny fragment from the gospel of John. So this box is evidence of Jesus -- that like nothing else we have on record.

COLLINS: So what about the box itself then? What characteristics of that box point to an accurate dating of 63?

MEINHARDT: Well, this is -- the box is called an ossuary or a bone box and it's a box that we've used just -- these types of boxes were used for a very short period from 20 B.C. to 70 A.D. in Jerusalem. This was a short-lived but common burial practice among Jewish families where a body at death would be laid out in a family cave tomb, probably laid out in a niche carved into the wall or an a burial shelf. The body would be allowed to decompose for a year, and then the family would go back and gather the bones together and place them in a box. Presumably, they did this to make room for more bodies in the tomb. So the box itself dates to between -- these types of boxes date between 20 B.C. and 70 A.D.

The next factor for dating is the inscription. The epigrapher, (UNINTELLIGIBLE), who's a leading expert in these Aramaic or Hebrew inscriptions has dated it, the inscription, to -- between about 50 and 70 A.D. He says the lettering -- some of the letters are only used in that very short time period. So between the box itself and inscription, the date comes to somewhere right around where the first century historian tells us James did die.

COLLINS: And of course, that inscription once again says, "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus." And that's the part that's significant because as Garrick Utley was saying, James and Joseph were common names. But the fact that Jesus was on there is very significant. MEINHARDT: Absolutely. We have approximately 800 ossuaries from this type period, 250 or so have inscriptions. Two of them, including this one, mention the brother. It's very, very rare to mention the brother and that's what gets people saying, "Why would you mention the brother unless he was extremely important or if the family had very great desire to be associated with that brother in perpetuity?"

COLLINS: And what about -- we had just heard that there were no bones obviously found in the box. Any way to do carbon dating or how are we going to get a closer fix on the time frame?

MEINHARDT: Yes, without the bones -- without any organic material we really can't do any other dating on the box. So unfortunately, no, but we know it's definitely between 20 and 70. And the -- the science of paleography is very accurate in dating inscriptions too. So with that, we know it's in the few decades before the Romans destroying the temple in 70 A.D. so.

COLLINS: Can you talk at all about the value of the box?

MEINHARDT: The dealer bought it for a few hundred dollars. I don't know. I don't know what it would be worth today in an auction.

COLLINS: Right. He paid just a couple bucks for it. You never know. Could be worth a whole heck of a lot more. All right, Molly Meinhardt, we certainly do appreciate your expertise on this, just fascinating stuff. Thank you, again.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com