{
  "version": "23.0.0",
  "generated": "2026-07-31",
  "methodNote": "V23 separates excavation context, published stratigraphy, radiocarbon measurement, calibrated/model-derived ranges, provenance history, object reading, historical inference, and biblical correlation. Simplified sequences are navigation aids and never replace excavation reports.",
  "chains": [
    {
      "id": "prov-tel-dan-stele",
      "artifactId": "tel-dan-stele",
      "title": "Tel Dan Stele",
      "date": "9th century BCE",
      "findspot": "Tel Dan, Israel",
      "institution": "Israel Antiquities Authority / Israel Museum",
      "objectNumber": "IAA 1996-125; 1993-3162",
      "classId": "controlled-excavation",
      "classLabel": "Controlled excavation",
      "contextConfidence": "High",
      "marketHistory": false,
      "risk": "low",
      "stages": [
        {
          "order": 1,
          "text": "Recovered as basalt fragments in controlled excavation at Tel Dan"
        },
        {
          "order": 2,
          "text": "Excavation documentation and epigraphic reconstruction"
        },
        {
          "order": 3,
          "text": "Conservation and institutional custody in Israel"
        },
        {
          "order": 4,
          "text": "Museum display and digital imaging"
        }
      ],
      "boundary": "The secure find context supports authenticity; restoration of fragmentary lines remains an epigraphic question.",
      "sourceIds": [
        "src-73a71afe886e",
        "src-25b1ff6f1e68"
      ],
      "url": "artifact-gallery.html?artifact=tel-dan-stele#artifact-tel-dan-stele"
    },
    {
      "id": "prov-mesha-stele",
      "artifactId": "mesha-stele",
      "title": "Mesha Stele",
      "date": "c. 830–805 BCE",
      "findspot": "Dhiban, Jordan",
      "institution": "Musée du Louvre",
      "objectNumber": "AO 5066",
      "classId": "reconstructed-fragments",
      "classLabel": "Reconstructed fragment corpus",
      "contextConfidence": "Moderate",
      "marketHistory": false,
      "risk": "moderate",
      "stages": [
        {
          "order": 1,
          "text": "Discovered at Dhiban in the nineteenth century"
        },
        {
          "order": 2,
          "text": "Squeeze made before the monument was broken"
        },
        {
          "order": 3,
          "text": "Fragments entered multiple hands and were recovered"
        },
        {
          "order": 4,
          "text": "Reconstructed at the Louvre using surviving fragments and the squeeze"
        }
      ],
      "boundary": "The object is authentic, but damaged lines and reconstructed portions require line-by-line caution.",
      "sourceIds": [
        "src-8bf0a3b492d4"
      ],
      "url": "artifact-gallery.html?artifact=mesha-stele#artifact-mesha-stele"
    },
    {
      "id": "prov-black-obelisk",
      "artifactId": "black-obelisk",
      "title": "Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III",
      "date": "825 BCE",
      "findspot": "Nimrud, Iraq",
      "institution": "British Museum",
      "objectNumber": "BM 118885",
      "classId": "controlled-excavation",
      "classLabel": "Controlled excavation",
      "contextConfidence": "High",
      "marketHistory": false,
      "risk": "low",
      "stages": [
        {
          "order": 1,
          "text": "Excavated at Nimrud by Austen Henry Layard"
        },
        {
          "order": 2,
          "text": "Transferred through documented excavation-era custody"
        },
        {
          "order": 3,
          "text": "Cataloged and conserved by the British Museum"
        },
        {
          "order": 4,
          "text": "Published and displayed as an Assyrian royal monument"
        }
      ],
      "boundary": "Secure excavation history does not remove the propagandistic character of the royal image and text.",
      "sourceIds": [
        "src-6dc7c8684ba1"
      ],
      "url": "artifact-gallery.html?artifact=black-obelisk#artifact-black-obelisk"
    },
    {
      "id": "prov-lachish-reliefs",
      "artifactId": "lachish-reliefs",
      "title": "Lachish Siege Reliefs",
      "date": "c. 700–692 BCE",
      "findspot": "Nineveh, Iraq",
      "institution": "British Museum",
      "objectNumber": "Multiple BM panels",
      "classId": "controlled-excavation",
      "classLabel": "Controlled excavation",
      "contextConfidence": "High",
      "marketHistory": false,
      "risk": "low",
      "stages": [
        {
          "order": 1,
          "text": "Excavated in Sennacherib’s Southwest Palace at Nineveh"
        },
        {
          "order": 2,
          "text": "Removed and transported under nineteenth-century excavation arrangements"
        },
        {
          "order": 3,
          "text": "Cataloged and conserved at the British Museum"
        },
        {
          "order": 4,
          "text": "Compared with Lachish archaeology and Assyrian texts"
        }
      ],
      "boundary": "The palace findspot is secure; the reliefs depict royal ideology as well as historical events.",
      "sourceIds": [
        "src-46f6f3961e54"
      ],
      "url": "artifact-gallery.html?artifact=lachish-reliefs#artifact-lachish-reliefs"
    },
    {
      "id": "prov-great-isaiah-scroll",
      "artifactId": "great-isaiah-scroll",
      "title": "Great Isaiah Scroll",
      "date": "c. 125 BCE",
      "findspot": "Qumran Cave 1",
      "institution": "Israel Museum, Shrine of the Book",
      "objectNumber": "1QIsaᵃ",
      "classId": "market-acquisition",
      "classLabel": "Antiquities-market acquisition",
      "contextConfidence": "Low",
      "marketHistory": true,
      "risk": "moderate",
      "stages": [
        {
          "order": 1,
          "text": "Discovered in Cave 1 near Qumran"
        },
        {
          "order": 2,
          "text": "Passed through local antiquities-market channels"
        },
        {
          "order": 3,
          "text": "Acquired and studied by scholarly and institutional custodians"
        },
        {
          "order": 4,
          "text": "Conserved and digitized by the Israel Museum / Dead Sea Scrolls projects"
        }
      ],
      "boundary": "The cave association is strong, but early custody was not a modern controlled excavation chain.",
      "sourceIds": [
        "src-6a0010f2dda0"
      ],
      "url": "artifact-gallery.html?artifact=great-isaiah-scroll#artifact-great-isaiah-scroll"
    },
    {
      "id": "prov-pilate-inscription",
      "artifactId": "pilate-inscription",
      "title": "Pontius Pilate Inscription",
      "date": "26–36 CE",
      "findspot": "Caesarea Maritima, Israel",
      "institution": "Israel Museum / Israel Antiquities Authority",
      "objectNumber": "AE 1963, 104",
      "classId": "controlled-excavation",
      "classLabel": "Controlled excavation",
      "contextConfidence": "High",
      "marketHistory": false,
      "risk": "low",
      "stages": [
        {
          "order": 1,
          "text": "Recovered during controlled excavation at Caesarea Maritima"
        },
        {
          "order": 2,
          "text": "Recorded in secondary use within the theater area"
        },
        {
          "order": 3,
          "text": "Published and conserved by Israeli authorities"
        },
        {
          "order": 4,
          "text": "Displayed and studied as an administrative inscription"
        }
      ],
      "boundary": "The inscription attests Pilate’s title and building activity, not the Gospel trial narrative.",
      "sourceIds": [
        "src-5048a411d73f"
      ],
      "url": "artifact-gallery.html?artifact=pilate-inscription#artifact-pilate-inscription"
    },
    {
      "id": "prov-caiaphas-ossuary",
      "artifactId": "caiaphas-ossuary",
      "title": "Caiaphas Ossuary",
      "date": "1st century CE",
      "findspot": "Southern Jerusalem",
      "institution": "Israel Museum / Israel Antiquities Authority",
      "objectNumber": "IAA ossuary record",
      "classId": "controlled-excavation",
      "classLabel": "Controlled excavation",
      "contextConfidence": "High",
      "marketHistory": false,
      "risk": "low",
      "stages": [
        {
          "order": 1,
          "text": "Recovered in a documented rock-cut tomb excavation"
        },
        {
          "order": 2,
          "text": "Recorded with its tomb assemblage"
        },
        {
          "order": 3,
          "text": "Transferred to Israel Antiquities Authority custody"
        },
        {
          "order": 4,
          "text": "Published and displayed with identification debated"
        }
      ],
      "boundary": "The tomb context and inscription are secure; identification with the high priest remains probabilistic.",
      "sourceIds": [
        "src-5c8ce0f296b7"
      ],
      "url": "artifact-gallery.html?artifact=caiaphas-ossuary#artifact-caiaphas-ossuary"
    },
    {
      "id": "prov-ketef-hinnom-amulets",
      "artifactId": "ketef-hinnom-amulets",
      "title": "Ketef Hinnom Silver Amulets",
      "date": "Late 7th–early 6th century BCE",
      "findspot": "Ketef Hinnom, Jerusalem",
      "institution": "Israel Museum / Israel Antiquities Authority",
      "objectNumber": "KH1 and KH2",
      "classId": "controlled-excavation",
      "classLabel": "Controlled excavation",
      "contextConfidence": "High",
      "marketHistory": false,
      "risk": "low",
      "stages": [
        {
          "order": 1,
          "text": "Recovered in controlled excavation of a Jerusalem burial repository"
        },
        {
          "order": 2,
          "text": "Documented with the burial assemblage"
        },
        {
          "order": 3,
          "text": "Conserved and unrolled using specialized methods"
        },
        {
          "order": 4,
          "text": "Reimaged and republished as early Hebrew textual artifacts"
        }
      ],
      "boundary": "The blessing formula is early; it does not date the final literary form of Numbers.",
      "sourceIds": [
        "src-c32caa7e635b"
      ],
      "url": "artifact-gallery.html?artifact=ketef-hinnom-amulets#artifact-ketef-hinnom-amulets"
    },
    {
      "id": "prov-merneptah-stele",
      "artifactId": "merneptah-stele",
      "title": "Merneptah Stele",
      "date": "c. 1208 BCE",
      "findspot": "Thebes, Egypt",
      "institution": "Egyptian Museum, Cairo",
      "objectNumber": "JE 31408",
      "classId": "controlled-excavation",
      "classLabel": "Controlled excavation",
      "contextConfidence": "High",
      "marketHistory": false,
      "risk": "low",
      "stages": [
        {
          "order": 1,
          "text": "Excavated in the memorial temple complex of Merneptah at Thebes"
        },
        {
          "order": 2,
          "text": "Transferred to the Egyptian Museum, Cairo"
        },
        {
          "order": 3,
          "text": "Published as a royal victory monument"
        },
        {
          "order": 4,
          "text": "Studied for the people determinative and the reading Israel"
        }
      ],
      "boundary": "The reading Israel is strong; the stele does not explain Israel’s origins.",
      "sourceIds": [
        "src-d0340401d5b2"
      ],
      "url": "artifact-gallery.html?artifact=merneptah-stele#artifact-merneptah-stele"
    },
    {
      "id": "prov-cyrus-cylinder",
      "artifactId": "cyrus-cylinder",
      "title": "Cyrus Cylinder",
      "date": "After 539 BCE",
      "findspot": "Babylon, Iraq",
      "institution": "British Museum",
      "objectNumber": "BM 90920",
      "classId": "controlled-excavation",
      "classLabel": "Controlled excavation",
      "contextConfidence": "High",
      "marketHistory": false,
      "risk": "low",
      "stages": [
        {
          "order": 1,
          "text": "Excavated at Babylon in a documented nineteenth-century campaign"
        },
        {
          "order": 2,
          "text": "Transferred to British Museum custody"
        },
        {
          "order": 3,
          "text": "Cataloged, conserved, translated, and displayed"
        },
        {
          "order": 4,
          "text": "Compared with Persian imperial restoration policies"
        }
      ],
      "boundary": "The cylinder illustrates imperial policy but does not mention Judah or Jerusalem directly.",
      "sourceIds": [
        "src-1fe62617873d"
      ],
      "url": "artifact-gallery.html?artifact=cyrus-cylinder#artifact-cyrus-cylinder"
    },
    {
      "id": "prov-deir-alla-balaam",
      "artifactId": "deir-alla-balaam",
      "title": "Deir ʿAlla Balaam Inscription",
      "date": "c. 800 BCE",
      "findspot": "Deir ʿAlla, Jordan Valley",
      "institution": "Jordan Archaeological Museum / excavation records",
      "objectNumber": "Plaster inscription fragments",
      "classId": "controlled-excavation",
      "classLabel": "Controlled excavation",
      "contextConfidence": "High",
      "marketHistory": false,
      "risk": "low",
      "stages": [
        {
          "order": 1,
          "text": "Recovered in controlled excavation at Deir ‘Alla"
        },
        {
          "order": 2,
          "text": "Plaster fragments recorded and assembled"
        },
        {
          "order": 3,
          "text": "Published through epigraphic reconstruction"
        },
        {
          "order": 4,
          "text": "Conserved and studied as a local prophetic text"
        }
      ],
      "boundary": "The shared name Balaam is significant; identity with every detail of Numbers cannot be assumed.",
      "sourceIds": [
        "src-4e88d9456931"
      ],
      "url": "artifact-gallery.html?artifact=deir-alla-balaam#artifact-deir-alla-balaam"
    },
    {
      "id": "prov-yehohanan-crucifixion",
      "artifactId": "yehohanan-crucifixion",
      "title": "Yehohanan Crucifixion Remains",
      "date": "1st century CE",
      "findspot": "Givʿat ha-Mivtar, Jerusalem",
      "institution": "Israel Antiquities Authority",
      "objectNumber": "Givʿat ha-Mivtar tomb find",
      "classId": "controlled-excavation",
      "classLabel": "Controlled excavation",
      "contextConfidence": "High",
      "marketHistory": false,
      "risk": "low",
      "stages": [
        {
          "order": 1,
          "text": "Recovered in a documented Jerusalem tomb excavation"
        },
        {
          "order": 2,
          "text": "Human remains and ossuary context recorded"
        },
        {
          "order": 3,
          "text": "Analyzed anatomically and published"
        },
        {
          "order": 4,
          "text": "Retained as comparative evidence for Roman crucifixion practice"
        }
      ],
      "boundary": "The remains demonstrate one crucifixion method, not a universal procedure for every execution.",
      "sourceIds": [
        "src-c32caa7e635b"
      ],
      "url": "artifact-gallery.html?artifact=yehohanan-crucifixion#artifact-yehohanan-crucifixion"
    }
  ]
}