I actually came across this today at TempleStudy.com and thought it was absolutely fascinating! I love ancient artifacts especially when those artifacts give us new light into the past. If these lead plates are found to be authentic, there are some major implications in so many areas that I haven’t even had time to collect my thoughts on the subject!
One of the most significant features of the plates are their ties to ancient Christianity. It would make these documents the oldest Christian documents ever discovered in this region and can shed some new light into what some of these early believers taught and understood about the Gospel.
Then there are the obvious similarities of these records to the Book of Mormon, the original version written of plates of Gold and bound together with three rings. Here are the lead plates:
***UPDATE (Sat, April 2, 2011):
It appears that more and more there is evidence that these are indeed incredible forgeries. TempleStudy.com has a great write up on the current state of these ‘plates’. I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see what the investigations reveal about their origins; very interesting…
http://www.templestudy.com/2011/03/31/jordanian-lead-plates-authentic-forgery/#more-2396
http://danielomcclellan.wordpress.com/2011/04/01/on-the-lead-vs-bronze-codices/
These aren’t the only examples of ancient people writing on metal plates, here are some photos of several other authentic records that have been discovered:
Links
- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1371290/70-metal-books-Jordan-cave-change-view-Biblical-history.html
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12888421
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9434000/9434907.stm
- http://www.templestudy.com/2011/03/22/ancient-sealed-metal-plates-secret-temple-texts-discovered-middle-east/
- http://www.templestudy.com/2011/03/29/details-ancient-metal-plates-bbc/
- http://www.heavenlyascents.com/2011/03/22/biblical-scholars-weigh-in-on-discovery-of-metal-plates/
