After being a skeptical crusader for so many years with regard to the Dan stele– publishing and pronouncing all kinds of things about errant chisel marks and the planting of a modern forgery to bolster claims for Davidic historicity, here we have him posing like a perfect twit in front of his computer for a local newspaper, claiming only "caution" for these demonstrably bogus, clumsy fakes.
What is different about this case from the Dan case? Well for one thing, this "find" is promoted by some very strange characters indeed. Were it to have been discovered in Israel, with different, if equally ridiculous, claims for "secret codes" of the ancient Jerusalem priesthood I am certain that Davies would lead the jeers and deride the "political" motives behind the manufacture of such a find. In this case it is just money. Shame on Philip Davies and shame on those scholars who do not call him out on this!
And this comes at a time when the Naked Archaeologist is peddling his Jesus nails. Wake up before you and the discipline of Biblical Archaeology all become laughingstocks.
From the Sheffield Telegraph April 20, 2011
Prof's mystery texts
DEADrc Prof Philip Davies. Prof Philip Davies of the Bibilical Studies Department of the Sheffield University
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