The Only Ancient Jewish Male Hair Ever Found
Biblical scholar James Tabor examines a rare ancient Jewish male hair specimen from the "Tomb of the Shroud"
This article was originally published on Dr. James Tabor’s popular Taborblog, a site that discusses and reports on “‘All things biblical’ from the Hebrew Bible to Early Christianity in the Roman World and Beyond.” Bible History Daily republished the article with consent of the author.
The braided hair of a Jewish woman was found at Masada but until recently, no example of preserved hair from a Jewish male had ever been found from the late 2nd Temple period. This discovery is one of the many fascinating, but less publicized, finds of the 1st-century “Tomb of the Shroud,” discovered in the summer of 2000 just outside the Old City of Jerusalem. The secrets this tomb continues to yield are many, including recent correlations with the DNA test results from the Talpiot Jesus tomb.
Many of the most interesting archaeological discoveries are accidental. There seems to be an unwritten axiom, those who seek never find, and those who find were not seeking. I have participated in over 20 seasons of excavation at five different sites over the past 25 years and I can’t count the times when suddenly, “out of the blue,” one of our students, volunteers, or a staff member suddenly finds something significant–and totally unexpected! Such was the case with the 15 line ostracon at Qumran in 1996, the engraved 1st-century menorah we found at Sepphoris in 1999 or the mysteriously inscribed stone vessel at Mt Zion in 2009.
I have to say that until our recent discoveries in the Talpiot “Patio” tomb, the most exciting find in which I have been involved had to be the wholly accidental late-night discovery of the freshly robbed tomb in Akeldama, in the Valley of Hinnom, just south of Jerusalem. It was June 14, 2000. Shimon Gibson and I were hiking just south of the Old City with five of our students, showing them some of the abandoned 1st-century tombs of that area. We had been in Israel for two weeks excavating at the Suba “John the Baptist” cave. We suddenly and unexpectedly came upon a freshly robbed entrance to one of the many 1st-century tombs that are in that area–many of them still sealed. We could see broken ossuaries, scattered bones and displaced soil where the invaders had removed the blocking stone to the tomb and tunneled inside.
The rest is now history. This amazing three-level tomb, cut into bedrock, contained in a lower niche or kokh the partially preserved skeletal remains of a male with a badly deteriorated cloth burial shroud still visible! We could hardly believe our eyes. Joe Zias, whom we told about the discovery the next day, was so sure the cloth had to be a later reburial that he swore that he would “eat his hat”–a plastic cuyler’s hat at that–if our cloth turned out to be ancient.
I had the cloth dated at the University of Arizona C-14 lab. Douglas Donahue, the same scholar who tested the Shroud of Turin, dated our cloth–it came out 1st century CE, and made headlines around the world. Although 1st century cloth has been found at Masada and in caves in the Judean Desert, nothing of this sort had ever been found in Jerusalem. Apparently that niche, sealed with a blocking stone, had a geological fissure that kept water from seeping in and rotting the material.
The tomb had any number of interesting features. DNA studies were done on all the individuals represented in the tomb–the first time, so far as we know, that this had even been done in an ancient Jerusalem tomb of this period. Textile analysis was done on the cloth–it turned out to be a layered mixture of linen and wool.1 Perhaps the most surprising find was that our shrouded individual, a male, had Hanson’s disease–leprosy–the 1st documented case from this region in ancient times. Gibson, Zissu, and I published our preliminary results later that same year2 and in 2009, a complete scientific study appeared in the on-line journal PLoS One.
One of the more fascinating finds in this tomb, one that has not received much attention, was the preservation of a sample of Jewish male hair. The hair was lice-free, and was trimmed or cut evenly, probably indicating that the family buried in this tomb practiced good hygiene and grooming. The length of the hair was medium to short, averaging 3-4 inches. The color was reddish.
The Tomb of the Shroud continues to offer more surprises. We recently noticed that the mitDNA tests of two of the individuals in this tomb match the polymorphisms of two individuals in the Jesus family tomb–namely skeletal materials taken from both the Yeshua and the Mariamene ossuaries. What the implications of this might be, and whether there is any possible relationship between these two families, remains to be explored. For one particularly tantalizing possibility, see Shimon Gibson’s speculations regarding the James Ossuary being stolen from the Akeldama “tomb of the Shroud.”3
Notes
1. I should point out that the two types of cloth were not woven together but lined or layered, thus avoiding any halachic violation of shatnetz, the Torah prohibition of mixing wool and linen.
2. “Jerusalem—Ben Hinnom Valley,” with B.Zissu, S.Gibson, Hadashot Arkheologiyot (Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 2000), Vol.III, pp. 70*-72*, Figs.138-139.
3. Shimon Gibson, “A Lost Cause: A Response from Shimon Gibson on the James Ossuary Inscription” Biblical Archaeology Review 30:6 (November/December 2004) 55-58.
Dr. James Tabor is Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte where he is professor of Christian origins and ancient Judaism. Since earning his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago in 1981, Tabor has combined his work on ancient texts with extensive field work in archaeology in Israel and Jordan, including work at Qumran, Sepphoris, Masada, Wadi el-Yabis in Jordan. Over the past decade he has teamed up with with Shimon Gibson to excavate the “John the Baptist” cave at Suba, the “Tomb of the Shroud” discovered in 2000, and ongoing work at Mt Zion.
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We recently noticed that the mitDNA tests of two of the individuals in this tomb match the polymorphisms of two individuals in the Jesus family tomb–namely skeletal materials taken from both the Yeshua and the Mariamene ossuaries.
Wiki- Microscopic inspection of the roots of Ramesses II’s hair proved that the king’s hair was originally red, which suggests that he came from a family of redheads. This has more than just cosmetic significance: in ancient Egypt people with red hair were associated with the god Seth,
Ramsses II, didn’t his hieroglyphs appear on the Djed? Didn’t he defeat the Sea People? Didn’t David have red hair (or at least ruddy ;-), didn’t David defeat the Sea People too? David and Djed seem to resonate well with the 20th dynasty.
I would bet $1,000 to this website that the DNA in that hair would match the polymorphisms in the DNA of Ramsses red hair as well. Careful though as soon as you publish, you will be called a racist. It’s how the world works.
Shalom,
Rose
[Broken URL removed by site admin]
Interesting that the burial cloth violated the Shatnez (שעטנז) prohibition on cloth containing both wool and linen.
Thanks for these good comments. Actually the wool and linen were layered not woven, which is halachically acceptable. We think this was a priestly family. I will update the blog and point this out.
This whole thing is just so – well – COOL that I can hardly stand it. It must have been absolutely stunning to be there!
– Cindy in Phoenix, AZ
I would still like to see the Mitochondrial DNA found in modern Israel to the Mitochondrial DNA of the Pharaohs (particularly Ramses).
Remember OJ Simpson was set free because there wasn’t a continuous ‘Chain of custody’ from when the DNA was collected. The Article begins with, “the wholly accidental late-night discovery of the freshly robbed tomb in Akeldama, in the Valley of Hinnom, just south of Jerusalem. It was June 14, 2000.”
The Research Article says, “The archaeologist’s DNA was characterised for reference to eliminate possible contamination, however neither contamination nor the archaeologist’s DNA was found in any of the results.”
The tests were conducted in clean rooms with separate filtered air supplies to avoid contamination. Yet we don’t know if the samples were contaminated by the looters before modern archeologists ever entered the tomb.
The Research Article continues, “However the target region is small and thus errors could be introduced in the identification of relationship amongst a random sample population. This mtDNA analysis has identified two mtDNA profiles that are shared between two individuals and one mtDNA profile that is shared between three individuals, suggesting a number of maternal relationships within the individuals from the Tomb of the Shroud”
It’s like any calculus function, in that the answer is only as good as the inputs. If you amplify dirty data, you’ll get a dirty result. Personally I believe these folks are all from the same tribe (not sure about Jewish ‘families’ in the 1st century). I would gladly donate 1,000 dollars (US) to this website if it can be shown that these bodies do not share the same Mitochondrial DNA as the red headed Ramses. (they have my email 😉
Excellent article thanks!
Shalom,
Rose
The PLOS-One paper gives the mitDNA results so the results are published and public and anyone can do any comparisons they care to–with their own family or others. I would think it unlikely, however, that a random family in 1st century Jerusalem would be maternally related to Ramses of the 13th century BCE, or alternatively, that any Jews today would show a maternal “match” with this Akeldama family.
A maternal relationship to Jews living today is likely, although improbable for any one person. A maternal relationship to Ramses is less likely, although not impossible.
James> that a random family in 1st century Jerusalem would be maternally related to Ramses of the 13th century BCE, or alternatively, that any Jews today would show a maternal “match” with this Akeldama family.
Rose> The Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities refuses to release DNA results of any mummies as far as I can tell. What would be some possible reasons for that?
Its not like there weren’t black Kings in Ancient Israel as well. Hezekiah seems to be a throne name for the Nubian Pharaoh’s Shebitku and Shabaka. As any separate Hezekiah could only have been a governor at best.
The total Solar eclipse over Meroe Nubia on March 5, 702 BCE would seem to crystallize this.
It happens at the same year in history as this. . .
Isaiah 38:8
Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which is gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down.
We need to see all the DNA results from Egypt and get it over with.
Shalom,
Rose
I’m thinking the DNA of those who returned under Ezra would be a particularly pure strain.
Remember in Ezra 10 all families that were not listed in the genealogies were broken. Men were forced to leave their wives and children and according to Ezra it happened.
3 Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of those that tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law.
Now I don’t pretend to believe all genealogies in the Bible are actual genealogies. Many genealogies when read aloud are passages in Hebrew (the oral tradition) to Hebrew speaking people. (Luke may be guilty of this too, aye?).
Ezra was trying to restore the line of David that the LORD cast away, when the people let the day and night get out of season (didn’t observe the intercalary months of the Jubile)
Jeremiah 33:26
Then will I cast away the seed of Jacob and David my servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them.
It would be awesome to see how the migration patterns of the different races and nationalities merged.
Still is that nagging question. Why didn’t Herodotus ever mention Hebrews or Jews? In book 2 he talked about a people who sacrificed once a year to the full moon by killing and eating an animal left at the door post of each family. He called them the people living in the Fens. They were divided into 12 kingdoms and thought swine an abomination. They sacrificed steers on alters in the same manner as described in Leviticus and Numbers. Yet not a peep from Herodotus about Hebrews in modern Jerusalem.
Shalom,
Rose
There appear to be too many inconsistencies in your analysis of the 1st century Jewish male to be acceptable. You noted that you presume the remains to be of a “priestly family.” You acknowledge that the male had Hanson’s disease-Leprosy and that the hair was neatly trimmed and short…” The fact that leprosy was detected would presumptively eliminate the potential for a Jewish priest who was made impure and removed from the general HBW community because of leprosy.
CF Torah.org: “The leper must cover his head and tear his clothes, must not cut his hair or wash his clothes, and must not enter a walled city, as it says “And the leper who has the condition, his clothes shall be torn and his hair grown and he shall cover his mouth… outside the camp shall be his dwelling”.6 If he touches a person or utensil or stops under the same roof with them or is moved by a person or rests on a suitable object they become impure. ” I take it that your article was not vetted before publication in BAR? If so, I would be interested in the panel’s observations
Ray Oliver, Esq.