Monday, August 22, 2011

The fake metal codices have a Facebook page

FAKE METAL CODICES WATCH: The metal codices now have a Facebook page, as noted by Joel L. Watts at Unsettled Christianity. I've been getting a spike of Jordan lead codices searches lately, and this explains why.

The only thing of interest on the page is a copy of what is claimed to be Peter Northover's report on the composition of the lead, which you can read here. And another report (which does not try to date the lead) attributed to one Peter Korgul, is here. Note that the first report says that "a Mediterranean origin is certainly feasible," which is not the same thing as saying that the lead is of Mediterranean origin. It sounds as though comparative data are lacking.

To keep repeating, the lead may be ancient, but all current evidence points to the writing and iconography of these codices being modern fakes. I have summed up the evidence here and here.

Another recent summary of the current situation is here. Although it inadvertently commented on an article from April, the commentary and links are still relevant. And it leads to many, many earlier posts on the subject.