In the 1989 film ‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade’, the Holy Grail is found hidden deep within the Arabian Temple of the Sun.
In an almost eerie coincidence, archaeologists discovered a ‘Holy Grail’ cup and twelve bodies in the film’s real-life filming location in Jordan.
Researchers made the shocking discovery this summer while excavating the 2,000-year-old Al Khazneh, or treasury, in the ancient city of Petra.
But an expert now says that, despite the striking similarity to the prop from the film, this is not ‘art imitating life’.
To write The conversationarchaeologist Claire Isabella Gilmour, from the University of Bristol, unravels the mystery of this remarkable real object.
Instead of a sacred chalice that gives the drinker eternal life, like the one in the film, it was just a standard drinking cup used by the Nabataeans, the ancient Arab people who built Al Khazneh, she says.
However, archaeologists still have no idea of the identity of the twelve people buried next to it.
An expert solves the mystery of the real ‘Holy Grail’ (pictured) found in the filming location of ‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade’
“One of the most striking discoveries has been called a ‘holy grail’ in many reports, suggesting that the vessel is similar to the fictional cup from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, also discovered in the Khazneh,” Ms Gilmour said.
“In fact, it is a simple vessel, not a cup that offers the drinker eternal life.”
According to Ms Gilmour, Lucasfilm Ltd – the production company behind the Indiana Jones films – studied Nabatean pottery to develop the film prop.
Ms Gilmour says: ‘The similarities between the vessels are not a case of art imitating life, but the result of painstaking research into Nabatean pottery carried out by Deborah Fine, archive director at Lucasfilm Ltd.’
She adds that the real ‘Grail’ found earlier this year was actually a fairly standard example of Nabatean pottery.
‘Nabataean pottery is very fine – often only 1.5mm thick – and most suitable for ceremonial purposes or local use than the thicker, more robust contemporary Roman pottery which would be better transported,’ says Ms Gilmour.
The academic adds that these types of pots, while not exactly a groundbreaking find, “reflect Petra’s status as an important trading point, and the Nabataeans’ skill at creation and invention.”
Archaeologists believe that the ancient city of Petra was inhabited from about 7000 BC to about 700 AD.
The Grail was found next to the bodies of twelve people (pictured) in a hidden tomb. Archaeologists still have no idea who these twelve people could be
Home to the Nabataean civilization, an ancient nomadic Arab group, it lay on a major trade route connecting Egypt, the Mediterranean Sea and the Arabian Peninsula.
This strategic location allowed Petra to flourish into an advanced and cosmopolitan city during the first century AD.
Carved directly into the pink sandstone of the valley, Al Khazneh is one of the city’s most recognizable structures and was built around AD 40 by the Nabataean king Aretas IV Philopatris, most likely as a tomb.
During the filming of ‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade’, the building’s imposing facade was used to represent the exterior of the Temple of the Sun, while interior scenes were filmed at Elstree Studios in England.
In 2003, expeditions discovered two previously unknown graves beneath the left side of Al Khazneh, which contained partial skeletal remains.
Further investigation using ground-penetrating radar – a surveying technique that emits pulses of electromagnetic waves – suggested that more graves could be hidden beneath the floors.
When scientists finally dug further into the temple in August this year, they were shocked to discover a hidden tomb carved directly into the rock.
Inside lay the bodies of twelve unknown persons, alongside grave goods made of pottery, bronze, iron and ceramics.
The Grail was found at Al Khazneh (pictured), a huge structure in the ancient city of Petra, Jordan. This building was used to film the exterior shots of the Temple of the Sun in the third Indiana Jones film
What really caught the researcher’s eye, however, was filmed as part of the Discovery Channel show ‘Expedition Unknown’ and was a simple ceramic vessel.
This grail-shaped cup looked remarkably similar to the cup used in the film starring Sean Connery and Harrison Ford, which was filmed at that location.
The documentary’s presenter, Josh Gates, said: ‘This is perhaps the most important tomb ever found at Petra and a discovery of historic proportions.’
Gates added that the cup “looked virtually identical to the Holy Grail from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.”
Other academics, meanwhile, have been considerably more critical of Expedition Unknown’s reporting on Petra’s tomb.
About THEY INCLUDE FUNERALS! No one is surprised, except people who haven’t done their research!’
But even if this hidden tomb may not contain the Holy Grail, it still contains an archaeological mystery.
Because the Nabataeans did not write much about their own culture, many archaeologists do not know how these people lived and died in Petra.
Although it bears a striking resemblance to the Grail shown in the film staring Harrison Ford (left) and Sean Connery (below), experts say the real ‘Grail’ is nothing more than a standard, albeit ancient, drinking cup.
Ms Gilmour said: ‘We do not yet know anything about the identities of those buried, although their burial in separate sarcophagi and their placement in the Khazneh suggest high status.’
Importantly, the bodies found at Al Khazneh are articulated – meaning no one has rummaged through the bones since they were buried.
In a place that has been the victim of hundreds of years of archaeological excavations, vandalism and looting, this is quite a rare find.
It makes the identity of those buried in Al Khazneh Tomb an intriguing puzzle and a potential source of vital information.
Ms Gilmour added: ‘The work on analyzing and interpreting these new finds has only just begun.
‘One of the enduring mysteries is the true purpose of the Khazneh.
“These burials can help answer that question as we rethink our understanding of this cosmopolitan ancient city.”