The Israel Antiquities Authority and the police arrested suspects over the weekend who allegedly stole 11 decorated stone coffins - ancient burial coffins that were used by Jews for burial during the Second Temple period. Some of the coffins still contained the skeletons of the deceased.
The suspects, residents of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Abadia in the Bethlehem area, were caught red-handed by a patrol and detective team from the Shafat Police Station in Jerusalem, while carrying out a transaction to sell the coffins to a Jewish merchant, near the Hizma checkpoint in northern Jerusalem.
Members of the Antiquities Authority's Robbery Prevention Unit immediately identified these as ancient, highly unique glass slides. It is suspected that the glass slides were recently looted from an ancient burial cave in the Jerusalem area.
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The suspects were arrested in the field, taken in for questioning, and interrogated under warning by Israel Antiquities Authority investigators from the Shefat station. On Friday, their detention was extended at the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court.
Stone coffins were used by the Jewish population for secondary burials during the Second Temple period, and were widely used from the second century BCE to the first century CE. The coffins are decorated with typical Jewish symbols, including the lily flower, the six-petaled rosette, and other symbols. The decorations of the coffins were a central part of Jewish art of the period.
On the sides of two of the seized ossuaries were found shallow engravings, previously carved with a sharp tool, indicating the names of the deceased whose bones were collected in the ossuaries. On one ossuary was found an engraving bearing the name "Relpin" written in square Hebrew script, typical of the late Second Temple period. This name is apparently a Hebrew form of an uncommon Roman name.
On the second ossuary appears an inscription in Greek that could not be deciphered, and below it the name 'Yoezer' in square Hebrew script. The name Yoezer was a common Jewish name during the Second Temple period, and it appears under this name in written sources from the period, such as the writings of Josephus. The name appears in this form and in a slightly different form - "Yehuezer", on many Jewish ossuary from this period.
Dr. Eitan Klein, deputy director of the Antiquities Robbery Prevention Unit who examined the coffins, noted that "this name appears for the first time on a coffin from the Land of Israel, and that this is a unique find. The inscriptions on the coffins will make it possible to recognize additional figures and names from among the Jewish population during the Second Temple period, and the models on the coffins will add new information about the world of Jewish art of the period." According to him, there is no doubt that the coffins were recently looted from a magnificent burial cave in Jerusalem. Remnants of paint remained on the coffins, and the coffins themselves belong to the group of "magnificent Jerusalem coffins" that were produced in Jerusalem in ancient times.
The Israel Antiquities Authority announced that the bones found inside the coffins will be transferred to the Ministry of Religious Affairs for burial.
It should be noted that, as reported by the Antiquities Authority, antiquities robbery is a serious offense for which the penalty is five years in prison, while the offense of trading in antiquities without a license is a criminal offense for which the penalty prescribed by law is three years in prison.
