It must be the year for tombs. Ehud Netzer, a very fine archaeologist indeed from Hebrew University, after working on the excavation at the Herodium outside Bethlehem for years has now reported that the tomb of Herod the Great has likely been found. Bits of an elaborate sarcophagus were found but no bones were in it, and Netzer theorizes that the tomb was desecrated perhaps during the Jewish war in the 60s.

Here is the link to the article in HaAretz, the Jerusalem newspaper–
http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/856784.html

Why should we believe this claim after the bogus one about the tomb of Jesus? In the first place the locale is right. The Herodium was a fortress which Herod built near Jerusalem so he would have a place to flee to in a hurry if an enemy was closing in. It is a fascinating site which involved the feat of shaving off several hills in order to build up the one on top of which this fortress is perched. There is also the fact that this claim by Netzer comports with what Josephus tells us about the demise of Herod the not so Great.

Stay tuned for further developments.

Maybe next we will find the tomb of Abraham. Oh wait, I’m going to the cave of Abraham in Haran in Turkey in two weeks. I’ll let you know what I find.