This 3D model is a faithful digital reconstruction of the Caiaphas ossuary, an ornate limestone bone box discovered in 1990 in a burial cave in the Peace Forest, south of Jerusalem. The original artifact bears the Aramaic inscription “Yehosef bar Qayafa” – “Joseph, son of Caiaphas”, widely associated with the high priest mentioned in the New Testament.
“Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, ‘You know nothing at all! You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.’” (John 11:49–50, NIV)
The ossuary measures about 37 cm high and 75 cm long, with richly carved rosettes framed in circles, making it the most elaborate of the twelve ossuaries found in the same tomb. Today, the original is preserved in the Israel Museum, Jerusalem (inv. IAA 91-468), while the bones it once contained were reburied on the Mount of Olives.
3D printing by Remington Powell
My 3D version respects the known proportions, decoration patterns, and inscriptions, offering a printable model suitable for educational use, museum-style displays, or collectors interested in biblical archaeology and Second Temple–period material culture.
