Caiaphas Ossuary
Discovered: Jerusalem
From: (c. AD 50-100)
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Caiaphas was the high priest who presided during the trial of Jesus, (Matthew 26, Luke 3, John 11). According to historian Josephus, his full name was "Joseph Caiaphas."
In 1990 a construction team was building a water park in Jerusalem accidentally opened a 1st century tomb that contained several "ossuaries," (bone box). The most ornate of the ossuaries was carved and inscribed with the name, "Joseph, son of Caiaphas." It contained the bony remains of several people including those of a sixty year old man.
In Israel during New Testament times it was the practice of the Jews to place a deceased person in a tomb and return a year later to collect the bones after decomposition had occurred. The bones would be placed in an ossuary, often used for several members of a family
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