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Geological Survey Of Israel

A STRING OF ERRORS. This 15-line inscription attributed to King Jehoash describes repairs made to the Jerusalem Temple in the late ninth century B.C.E. (also related in the Hebrew Bible). If authentic, it is the only known royal Israelite inscription, but once again Goren has declared it a forgery. After misidentifying the type of stone, Goren then claimed that the Jehoash tablet had a fake patina applied to it but could not accurately explain how. He also failed to address the ancient crack that runs across several lines of the inscription—a risky gamble for a would-be forger if the chiseling should cause the tablet to break (it later broke while being handled by police). And again, Goren has not used the ESEM/EDS technique to examine the inscription and potentially clear up all doubt.