Archaeologica.org

Every point of Simcha Jacobovici’s theory is wholly unsustainable. Scholars are uncertain whether or not the tomb is the tomb of Caiaphas, or even if the High Priest is actually buried there; they are only certain that it is the family tomb of a family named קפא (“Qafa” or “Qofa” or “Qayafa”). There is no evidence whatsoever that the unprovenanced nails Simcha holds in the documentary originate from the Caiaphas family tomb, and testimony from the tomb’s excavator flatly state they did not. Even if the nails had originated from the tomb, Simcha must explain why one nail was discovered inside an ossuary with only women and children in it, while the other was found on the floor. The nails are too small to have been used in crucifixion. There is no way Caiaphas could have retrieved the nails had he wanted to, nor does there exist any motive for his wanting to retrieve the unclean items. A sectarian apologetic book written six centuries after the fact, preserved only in Arabic, and containing fantastic apocryphal legends about Jesus’ childhood cannot be considered credible evidence of Caiaphas’ sympathy for Christ – a fact that would have certainly seized upon by early Christian authors had it been so.