Heavy metal secrets

From
<http://www.thejc.com/judaism/judaism-features/46028/heavy-metal-secrets-a-m
id-east-cave>
 =======================================================================

The Jewish Chronicle
London
March 3, 2011
Created 3 Mar 2011 - 10:53am
Heavy metal secrets from a Mid-East cave

Israel's archaeological establishment believes they are a fake. But
could a collection of metal books be an early example of Kabbalah?
By Simon Rocker

Robert Feather is out to prove the sceptics wrong. A metallurgist with
a passion for archaeology, he has been asked to help authenticate what
he believes could be one of the most exciting religious discoveries
since the Dead Sea Scrolls.

The West London Synagogue member has previously published a book on
the Copper Scroll, the Dead Sea Scroll thought to hold clues about the
location of buried Temple treasure. Now he is trying to establish the
origins of a mysterious cache of metal books which could be linked to
the Kabbalah.

The objects belong to Hassan Saeda, a Bedouin farmer in Galilee who
says they have been in his family's possession since his
great-grandfather found them in a cave in Jordan, a century ago.

His collection consists of more than 20 codices (early books), cast
mostly in lead and containing cryptic messages in Hebrew and Greek
along with symbols such as the menorah. In various places, the Hebrew
letters appear to stand for Bar Kochba, leader of the second-century
Judean revolt against the Romans; and the talmudic mystic Shimon bar
Yochai, who hid from the Romans in a cave for 13 years.

"The first time I heard about the discovery, I was extremely
cautious," Mr Feather said. "However, when I was given an opportunity
to see and examine some examples.and visit the cave where they were
said to have come from, my scepticism was allayed."

The books appear to be "Kabbalah-related and the nature of the content
indicates a magical incantation style of writing," Mr Feather said.
Before 400 CE, almost all ancient codices were made of parchment. The
lead codices "predate any form of codex by several hundred years and
this particular material was probably chosen to ensure permanency."

The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), however, has dismissed the
idea that the books are of any value. Experts who examined some of
them, it said, "absolutely doubted their authenticity". According to
the IAA, the books are a "mixture of incompatible periods and
styles.without any connection or logic. Such forged motifs can be
found in their thousands in the antiquities markets of Jordan and
elsewhere in the Middle East."

Professor Andre Lemaire, an expert in ancient inscriptions from the
Sorbonne, was also dubious, saying the writing on some of the codices
he had seen made no sense and it was "a question apparently of
sophisticated fakes".

Undeterred, Mr Feather instead cites the findings of Peter Northover,
a metals analyst at Oxford University. Conducting tests on two samples
of metal from one book, Dr Northover concluded that their composition
was "consistent with a range of ancient lead," and that it was clear
from the surface corrosion that the book was "not a recent
production".

The IAA remains unconvinced, arguing that the metal could have been
taken from an ancient coffin while the messages could have been
fabricated later.

But Sasson Bar-Oz, a lawyer representing Mr Saeda, the artefacts'
owner, believes that the IAA did not carry out extensive enough
checks. "My opinion, after a lot of time on this project," he said, "
is that they are genuine."

Now there is fresh hope for Mr Feather, who was approached to help Mr
Saeda because of his expertise in metal. A piece of leather, bearing
the image of a crocodile, which also turned up with the metal books,
was sent for carbon dating. The results, just back, indicate it is
nearly 2,000 years old. But Mr Feather said that the dating needed to
be corroborated by other tests, currently being conducted, before he
could be confident of its accuracy.

The dry soil of the Middle East is rich in the relics of ancient
civilisation. But experts do not want to be caught by elaborate
forgeries. Last October a marathon five-year trial ended in Israel of
two dealers accused of faking an inscription on an ossuary (stone
coffin) to suggest that it might have once held the remains of James,
the brother of Jesus Christ. The judge has still to announce a verdict
and the 12,000 pages of conflicting evidence demonstrate how difficult
it can be to determine what is genuine or not.

Institutions involved with antiquities tended to be "ultra-cautious",
Mr Feather said, "because they have burned their fingers on previous
occasions. A classic example is that of the Shapira strips."

Moses Shapira was a 19th-century antique dealer in Jerusalem who
acquired some leather strips which he thought were early biblical
writings. "Initially they were hailed as one of the greatest
historical finds of all time," he said. "Subsequently the British
Museum dismissed them as forgeries, largely because the text differed
from the biblical version of the time. Shapira was so distraught that
he blew his brains out in a hotel in Amsterdam," he said.

"When the first of the Dead Sea Scrolls was discovered in 1947,
similarities to the Shapira texts made scholars reassess their
conclusions. It is now generally accepted that the Shapira strips were
probably the oldest known version of Deuteronomy."