Discovering the Lead Codices: The Book of Seven Seals and the Secret Teachings of Jesus

In March 2011, The Sunday Times ran an article on the discovery of a mysterious cache of palm-sized, ring-bound books made of lead. These lead codices, as they have become known, contain mysterious symbols and inscriptions. One tablet in particular features a portrait of Jesus and has preserved the seven seals that would have bound it together along its left-hand side.  

David and Jennifer Elkington photographed the books, brought samples to the UK for analysis, and assembled a team of eminent scholars to study them. At the same time, the books were quickly becoming an international phenomenon, the Israelis and Jordanians began a very public dispute over the location of the site where they were discovered. Convinced that the codices are the earliest Christian documents ever found, the Elkingtons put their reputations on the line as they raced to authenticate the find amidst an array of vested interests which sought to suppress them.  

In their quest to crack the code, the Elkingtons have been subjected to personal threat but they have continued the fight to ensure the world understands the importance of the codices, which may well pre-date the New Testament. Their significance in our understanding of early Christianity cannot be underestimated.

David Elkington is the author of In the Name of the Gods, the acclaimed academic thesis on the resonance and acoustical origins of religion. David is primarily an Egyptologist, specializing in Egypto-Palestinian links that have inevitably drawn him in the field of Biblical studies.  

Jennifer Elkington  was born in Key West, Florida, spending her formative years in Germany before reading Art and European History at the American University in Paris.  Jennifer stayed on in Paris working in the arts before relocating to London in 1996 where she worked as a literary publicist.