Archaeologist Busted for Faking Artifacts Showing Jesus Crucifixion

Archaeologist Eliseo Gil, geologist Óscar Escribano, and materials analyst Rubén Cerdán appeared, this week, in a criminal court in Vitoria-Gasteiz, the capital of Spain's Basque Country. They are accused of having forged ancient graffiti on the faces of hundreds of ancient artifacts.

The Telegraph reported that the three men are charged with having scratched religious images onto pottery, glass, and brick that were subsequently found in the Roman ruins at Iruña-Veleia, about 6 miles (10 kilometers) west of Vitoria-Gasteiz. Gil had boldly claimed the graffiti found on the artifacts demonstrated early links between the Roman settlement in Spain and the Basque language and he claimed three “crosses” found scratched on a fragment of ancient pottery were the earliest known depiction of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ .

PLEASE NOTE: This is an ongoing investigation and trial. These men have not been convicted of the crimes they are being accused of...yet.

If I may, I would like to divert the readers attention toward the crimes allegedly committed more so than the theology used by the accused, although they are admittedly intertwined and cannot be stricken from the discussion. In my opinion, the crux of this story is the ability of a rogue archaeologist and his colleagues to pull off a hoax of this magnitude for this long in the 21rst century.

If true, these men defaced and faked literally hundreds of artifacts, as well as vandalized the archaeological history at the dig site. They falsified authenticating documents for the artifacts, and deceived/conned the Basque people out of millions of dollars, and they have been doing it for over a decade.

Incidents like these infuriate me. Piecing together thousands of years of history is a daunting enough task for those who spend their lives doing it. We certainly don't need the interference of con men and special interests to complicate matters and add pieces to the puzzle that don't belong there, just to satiate someones lust for money, fame, and personal beliefs.
The academic community has a hard enough time policing itself as it is, and this kind of thing still happens more often than anyone would care to admit me thinks.

Please take the time to actually read the short article before commenting. Source

a reply to: Klassified

Someone posted this.

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus
a reply to: Klassified

Someone posted this.

Thanks Augustus. I guess I shouldn't be surprised it didn't come up in my searches.

Maybe this one will get a bit more attention than the first one did. I will leave it to the mods to leave or remove.

a reply to: Klassified

No worries, it's an interesting story and I'm curious to see the outcome.

a reply to: Klassified

Idiots like this will always be found out because they are idiots.

Among other major discrepancies, they pointed out that some of the language of the graffiti shows that it was made in modern times
www.livescience.com...

If convicted I hope the court throws the book at them so they have time enough to contemplate their idiocy , any major discovery must face the scrutiny of peer review and that's where hoaxes like this always fail.

I was hoping to see some of the artifacts in question. Any links to pics? A dead give-away would be if they used a cross. Jesus was hung on an upright stake. The pagan symbol of the cross and its association to Jesus didn't get traction until the Roman pagan Emperor Constantine made an apostate form of Christianity the state religion.


ETA: I see Gortex's link. As I thought, they used crosses.

ETA: Ok I see they say it was the 3rd century. Right around when the cross was introduced into Christianity.

originally posted by: SimpleIdea
A dead give-away would be if they used a cross.

Another huge giveaway was using a comma with Latin.

a reply to: SimpleIdea

Since no one else has said it yet, I will:

Someone is going to hell.

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

originally posted by: SimpleIdea
A dead give-away would be if they used a cross.

Another huge giveaway was using a comma with Latin.

Qui non est non uti lingua

a reply to: Riffrafter

No, I'm sure he doesn't.

originally posted by: Riffrafter
Since no one else has said it yet, I will:

Someone is going to hell.

Along with those who fake evolution evidence.

originally posted by: Riffrafter
Since no one else has said it yet, I will:

Someone is going to hell.

IDK... it obviously sucks that people would do something like this, but is it really hell worthy?

I don't even necessarily believe in hell btw... but still, if there was one, I think that condemning people to it should probably be reserved for the truly evil.

Such great Christians … wait doesn't this amount to a violation of:
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image
and
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor
If they are as a they claim good Christians then I hope they enjoy Hell, but if they are Gnostics then Enjoy Hades you idiots.

This is why it's so hard to figure out if religious events ever happened. Too many people are so afraid if they didn't that they set forth and fake history to ensure that people believe that they did. So stupid and self defeating at the same time.

I recon this “relics” would have sold for a fortune in Spain, a very devout catholic country never mind the value of the art itself. Certainly no crime of passion

Crosses or stakes, that’s just an irrelevant Jehovah Witness argument, something the JW,org use on ignorant people to introduce discussion. Nobody really knows if Jesus was crucified on a stake or cross and nobody who understands Christianity outside of JW,org really cares

Next time a JW,org member carries on about the stake /cross argument, just say you don’t care.

Fake artifices, goblets, spears, spearheads, shrouds, splinters of the cross, and the endless.
This is nothing new, nothing important nothing of any real value.

Christianity is not about artefacts it’s about inner change

originally posted by: Guyfriday
Such great Christians … wait doesn't this amount to a violation of:
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image
and
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor
If they are as a they claim good Christians then I hope they enjoy Hell, but if they are Gnostics then Enjoy Hades you idiots.

This is why it's so hard to figure out if religious events ever happened. Too many people are so afraid if they didn't that they set forth and fake history to ensure that people believe that they did. So stupid and self defeating at the same time.

Unless I missed it, nothing in the article says these guys were Christian or pretending to be, but rather that they faked Christian artifacts trying to draw a connection to the Basque people presumably to secure more funding into the millions, which they seem to have accomplished.

The story is more about fraud than theology.

originally posted by: Subaeruginosa

originally posted by: Riffrafter
Since no one else has said it yet, I will:

Someone is going to hell.

IDK... it obviously sucks that people would do something like this, but is it really hell worthy?

I don't even necessarily believe in hell btw... but still, if there was one, I think that condemning people to it should probably be reserved for the truly evil.

Agreed.

Sometimes hyperbole gets the best of me.

But I calm down eventually.

Well, usually...

originally posted by: Raggedyman


Christianity is not about artefacts it’s about inner change

Very well said. I wish more people thought that way.

a reply to: peter vlar

Who's at fault, the church who lies, or the common man who rejects lies.


Of course this bull# is fake, crucifixion is a cosmic event, Jesus was never a human being. Its personification, as above so below ya #in hipsters

originally posted by: AnodeOrCathode
a reply to: peter vlar

Who's at fault, the church who lies, or the common man who rejects lies.

Who is at fault? The churches that lie and the people walllowing in willful ignorance who accept and repeat the lies and refuse to actually examine things and come to their own conclusions. People seem to forget that culture and faith are a direct result of geography. I.e. where one is born determines what one believes and how the view their god or gods.