Access

News Feature

Nature 434, 13-15 (3 March 2005) | doi:10.1038/434013a; Published online 2 March 2005

Open Innovation Challenges

naturejobs

Antiquities fraud:  Reality check

Haim Watzman1

  1. Haim Watzman is a freelance writer in Jerusalem.

Top

They were highly prized artefacts with inscriptions that dated back to biblical times. The only problem was they were fake. Haim Watzman unearths the authentication work that has rocked Israel's archaeology community.

At the end of December, five alleged members of an antiquities forgery ring were indicted in Jerusalem's district court. At the same time, the Israel Museum in Jerusalem removed from view one of its most prized pieces: an ivory pomegranate bearing an inscription hinting that it had been used by priests in Solomon's Temple, the holiest site of the Israelite nation in the biblical period.

MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS

These links to content published by NPG are automatically generated.

NEWS AND VIEWS

The Glozel affair

Nature News and Views (02 Oct 1975)