I’m usually one who likes to believe. Joseph Smith once taught, “I never hear of a man being damned for believing too much; but they are damned for unbelief.” But the facts seem to be stacking up against this one.

Here’s the current state of things.

Details favoring authenticity:

• Initial metallurgic research on the plates shows they “look” about 2,000 years old, based on their type of corrosion, which they say “would be impossible to achieve artificially.”
• Carbon dating on a piece of leather found with the plates, with the image of a crocodile on it, had results indicating its about 2,000 years old.
• Scholars who have examined them are cautious but interested, believing they could be early Christian writings – Dr. Margaret Barker and Professor Philip R. Davies.
• Jordan’s Department of Antiquities, and its director Ziad al-Saad, has expressed great interest in the plates, saying they could date from early Christianity. The Jordanian government is working to repatriate them.
• The plates contain a number of true ancient symbols, including menorah, palm trees (lulav), eight-pointed stars, archaic Hebrew characters, etc.

Details favoring forgery:

• Initial metallurgic research is not based on the composition of the metal, but appearances. Who did this metallurgic research?
• Who did the carbon dating on the piece of leather found with the plates?
• Conflicting reports on their source – were they founded by a Jordanian Bedouin between 2005-2007, or are they an Israeli’s family possession over 100 years old? (Another alternate history has also emerged placing their origin in Alexandria and being found in northern Egypt.)
• The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) has dismissed the discovery as forgeries. They “absolutely doubted their authenticity. The IAA has said they are a “mixture of incompatible periods and styles without any connection or logic. Such forged motifs can be found in their thousands in the antiquities markets of Jordan and elsewhere in the Middle East.”
• Initial reports stated there were twenty codices in the collection. Later reports state there are up to seventy.
• Most ancient plates with writing that have been formerly discovered were engraved with their inscriptions into the metal. I’m unaware of any that were cast with metal in molds, such as this one, resulting in raised figures.
• Most ancient plates that have been found were made of copper, gold, or bronze, not lead.
• There were similar plates found in the 19th century that were also cast in lead with a mixed unknown language inscribed on them, known as the Sinaia Lead Plates. These are considered by archeologists today to be modern forgeries.
• Another discovery of lead plates called the Lead Books of Sacromonte were writings on circular plates, bound with lead wire, and are now considered by experts to be 16th century forgeries. They were also a mix of languages, and cryptic texts.
• David Elkington, the archeologist that is spearheading the recovery effort, is not widely known among archeologists, and has published a questionable, almost new-age type, book called In the Name of the Gods.
• David Elkington already has a lengthy 320 page book and documentary film in the works about the Jordan plates discovery. The websites say the book was published in May, 2010. Most significant discoveries are only followed years later by detailed books and documentaries.
• In an interview with David Elkington, he mentions that the eight-pointed stars found on the plates are surely Messianic signs, and representative of the star of Bethlehem, neither of which is really true. Such a star can represent a god, but is not necessarily Messianic.
• An expert in ancient inscriptions, Professor Andre Lemaire, said the writing he saw on the codices didn’t make sense, and it was “a question apparently of sophisticated fakes”.
• Much of what is being said about the dating of the plates is that they are first century AD. Multiple things seem to suggest a later 3rd or 4th century date however, including the appearance of a cross (only began to be used as a symbol by Christians centuries after the crucifixion), and a menorah (was typically forbidden to be represented by Jews until Late Antiquity).
• Detailed high resolution photos of the plates have not been released publicly for expert scrutiny.
• Other recent communications have shown that David Elkington may be in possession of other certain forgeries, claimed to be part of the same collection.

Conclusion

All-in-all these things lead me (no pun intended), and others, to believe that the plates are probably a very elaborate and careful forgery. Whether they are a modern forgery or an ancient forgery is yet to be seen. If they are an ancient forgery, they may still yield interesting insights into ancient times.

As Dr. Margaret Barker initially said of the findings:

If they are a forgery, what are they are forgery of? Most fakes are drawn from existing material, but there is nothing like this that I have seen.

I wouldn’t be surprised if someone let loose the joke on us all tomorrow.  Surely archeologists have April Fools pranks too.  If that’s it, this one certainly takes the cake!

UPDATE: The Deseret News has published an article detailing the weaknesses of the discovery also.

Jordanian Lead Plates: Authentic or Forgery?

Pentagrams on the Nauvoo Temple

One of the more well-used and worn-out attacks from our critics has been the Church’s use of the symbol of the pentagram (a 5-pointed star) on some of our temples, most particularly on the early temples of this dispensation such as the Nauvoo Temple. In an sweeping gesture they pass these symbols off as absolute proof that Mormonism is a Satanic organization. They cannot imagine why a so-called Christian faith would even think to use such symbols when it is so clear to them that they are evil and of the devil.

Why do these critics always assume the worst, and ignore the simple evidence? It didn’t take me more than a few minutes of Googling to find the following information on the symbolism of the pentagram from several different sites:

During the times of the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament), the pentacle was the first and most important of the Seven Seals – an amulet whose seals represented the seven secret names of God. It was inscribed on King Solomon’s ring, which is often called Solomon’s Seal in error. Each point of the pentagram was also interpreted as referring to the five books of the Pentateuch – the first five books in the Hebrew Scriptures; the Torah.

To the Hebrews the five points of the pentagram were tied to the Pentateuch (the first five books of the bible) and represented as a whole the concept of truth.

There are many connections between the pentagram and Christianity. Before the cross, it was a preferred emblem to adorn the jewelry and amulets of early Christians (followed by an 'x’ or a phoenix). The pentagram was associated with the five wounds of Christ, and because it could be drawn in one continuous movement of the pen, the Alpha and the Omega as one.

A 'point down’ pentacle is nothing new, nor is it necessarily Satanic when it appears as such. Historical depictions of the pentagram were as likely to be points down as point up; a distinction between one or the other was rarely made by the ancients.

Perhaps most curious is the pentagram as it relates to early Christianity. Constantine the Roman Emperor who converted to Christianity chose to use the pentagram on his seal and amulet. Up until medieval times, the five points of the pentagram represented the five wounds of Christ on the Cross. During these times the pentagram carried no evil implications at all and in fact, in a lesser way than the cross, was symbolic of the Savior.

Up until medieval times, the five points of the pentagram represented the five wounds of Christ on the Cross. It was a symbol of Christ the Saviour. This is in stark contrast to today where the pentagram is criticized by modern Fundamentalist Christians, as being a symbol of evil. The church eventually chose the cross as a more significant symbol for Christianity, and the use of the pentagram as a Christian symbol gradually ceased.

The adoption of the pentacle as a Satanic emblem is quite recent, dating only to the latter half of the twentieth century.

Eliphas Levi (born Alphonse Louis Constant), a former Roman Catholic priest, in 1856 turned the previously harmless Jewish and Christian pentagram into a ridiculous Satanic symbol.

In the nineteenth century Eliphas Lévi, an Occultist, was the first to adapt the inverted pentagram as symbolic of evil.

Probably due to misinterpretation of symbols used by ceremonial magicians, it later became associated with Satanism and subsequently rejected by most of Christianity sometime in the twentieth century.

It’s amazing what a few minutes of Google will do. For most of human history the pentagram has symbolized good things – the heavens, stars, health, scriptures, truth, and even the Savior, Jesus Christ. The adaptation of the pentagram into a Satanic symbol is a modern invention, another attempt of the Adversary to turn everything that is good into evil (Isaiah 5:20).

FAIR also has gathered some good research on this subject.

The Ancient Pentagram – A Christian Symbol