Story from the Guardian.co.uk
Oh no. (Calvary image from June, 2006)
Finds that made Basques proud are fake, say experts
Giles Tremlett in Madrid
Monday November 24 2008 00.01 GMT
It was hailed as an archeological discovery of global importance showing, among other things, the oldest representation of Christ on the cross and proof that ancient Egyptian influences had survived deep in Roman Spain.
For traditional Basques the pictures, symbols and words found scraped onto pieces of third century pottery dug up near the town of Nanclares, in northern Spain, included miraculous evidence that their unique language of Euskara was far older than ever thought.
Eighteen months ago the dig's director, Eliseo Gil, claimed that some finds at the Roman town known as Veleia were on par with those at Pompeii or Rome itself. Basque nationalists bristled with pride. This archeological jewel gave them a far greater claim to a distinctive, millennial and Christian culture than they had dreamed possible.
Now a committee of experts has revealed those jewels to be fakes. "They are either a joke or a fraud," said MartÃn Almagro, a professor in prehistory from Madrid. "How has something like this been taken seriously for so long?" [Who are these experts? Are they Spanish? Are they Basque? Are they of other nationalities who do not have regional politics as their number one agenda???]
The hunt is on for an archeological fraudster who defaced fragments of third century pottery with fake graffiti. [An assumption not yet proven].
The fraudster seems either to have buried the pieces or planted them in a laboratory where experts sifted through finds. [Really?] The fakes left the first people to see them swooning.
The Calvary scene was hailed as both the nearest thing mankind had to a contemporary pictorial account of the crucifixion, and proof that Basques had been relatively early Christians.
The words in Euskera, if genuine, would have predated by 700 years the previous earliest known written form of the language. The hieroglyphics caused speculation about the existence of third century Egyptologists [oh please - why use such a loaded word "Egyptologist" - why is it not possible that third century Egyptians who were Coptic Christians were in the area at the time? We know there was long-term trade between Egypt and Spain dating back thousands of years] who might have created the inscriptions to teach children.
Now experts who have studied the pieces in depth say the fakes, some of which used modern glue [Was modern glue simply used to hold pieces of shards together? Why would this make the inscriptions a fraud?], should have rung warning bells immediately.
References were found to non-existent gods [really? If these gods were not know before from prior references, how do these experts know they are non-existent?], 19th-century names [again, really? place names always present complications in archaeological digs but are often used to substantiate other evidence of antiquity] and even to the 17th-century philosopher Descartes [note that no quotes were provided to substantiate this claim].
Words in Euskara used impossible spellings. [Really? Who are these experts in this ancient language? Have they ever studied ancient spellings in English? The variety of spellings is amazing! Indeed, I believe that in English for instance, standardized spellings weren't established until the 20th century!] The hieroglyphs included references to Queen Nefertiti which would have been almost impossible to make prior to the 19th century. [Really? If the people who were doing the inscriptions had actual knowledge, then it wouldn't be so unusual; it's just us so-called modern westerners who didn't have knowledge of Queen Neftertiti until the 19th century; that doesn't mean other people prior to our time didn't know about her. That's a really arrogant assumption to make, tsk tsk.]
The Calvary scene, meanwhile, included the inscription "RIP". "It is a formula that can only be applied to people who are dead," Almagro told El Correo newspaper. "To say that Jesus Christ is dead would be a heresy. I haven't seen anything quite so funny in the whole history of Christianity." [Well, I don't know about that; Christ actually did die on that cross, otherwise the whole premise of Christianity, i.e., that Christ rose from the dead 3 days after he died, would be a big lie! What else would people put in a Calvary scene representing where Christ died, but RIP?]
Local authorities and sponsors from Basque public companies have poured hundreds of thousands of euros into excavations. Last week they closed the dig temporarily. Eliseo Gil did not return calls from the Guardian but sources said those in charge were not yet fully convinced that their finds were fake.
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Based on what is presented in this story, it seems to me that some "experts" are attacking that which would cast their prior academic conclusions into question. If you think that Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, you haven't seen anything to compare to a previously published academician's pet theories scorned!
If these shards are the word of a fraudster, then it was a rather ignorant fraudster. If, as the story implies, it was someone who had access to the dig site and/or the storage facilities for artifacts recovered from the dig, it seems to imply that someone working on the dig is the guilty party. But who would be so stupid as to use modern references in an attempt to fool "experts?" And I still do not get the mention of the use of "modern glue" - just how does that prove that these certain inscribed shards are frauds?
