Limestone
burial box is typical of first century Jerusalem and has chiselled on side
"James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus'
The Guardian, Matthew Kalman in Tel Aviv, Wednesday 25 December 2013
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| Tel Aviv antiquities collector Oded Golan with the stone burial box bearing the inscription "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus." Photograph: Matthew Kalman/ theguardian.com |
For 2,000
years, pilgrims and archaeologists have hunted for physical evidence of Jesus
and his family, without success.
But now an
ancient burial box claiming to contain the earliest reference to the Christian
saviour is about to go on public display in Israel after its owner was cleared
of forgery. It has not been seen in public since a single, brief exhibition in
Toronto in 2002.
The modest
limestone burial box, known as an ossuary, is typical of first-century
Jerusalem, and is owned by Oded Golan, an Israeli antiquities collector.
Chiselled on the side are the words "James, son of Joseph, brother of
Jesus."
James the
Just was the first leader of the Christians in Jerusalem after the Crucifixion.
He was executed for apostasy by the local rabbinical court.
At that
time, Jews were not buried but laid in a cave. The bones were collected after a
year and placed in an ossuary. Thousands have been discovered, some of them
inscribed with names to identify whose bones they contain. One other ossuary
mentions a brother.
"This
is the oldest evidence that mentions the name of Jesus Christ," said
Golan, who bought the box in the 1970s but did not realise its significance
until Sorbonne professor Andre Lemaire noticed it in Golan's collection.
Lemaire published his findings in 2002 and the ossuary was briefly displayed at
a Toronto museum, causing a worldwide sensation.
But
sceptics questioned its authenticity. In 2003, the Israel Antiquities Authority
seized the ossuary and appointed an expert committee who dubbed it a fake.
Golan was arrested and charged with forging the mention of Jesus.
After a
10-year investigation and criminal trial, Golan was found innocent of forgery
in 2012. Despite the verdict, doubts remain.
"Because
of the differences in the depth and the clarity and the kerning [spacing]
between the first half of the inscription that mentions James son of Joseph,
and the second half, I'd be willing to wager that the second half was added in
modern times," said Prof Christopher Rollston of the Albright Institute of
Archaeological Research in Jerusalem.
But other
experts disagree.
"The
inscription is written in the Jewish script, it was done with a sharp
instrument and I think it was done by the same hand. It is an authentic
inscription," Prof Gabriel Barkay of Bar-Ilan University explained.
Golan cites
expert evidence from the trial showing the patina - a biological crust formed
on ancient objects - inside the grooves of the inscription.
"There
is no doubt that it's ancient, and the probability is that it belonged to the
brother of Jesus Christ," said Golan.
Although
Golan's trial ended last year, the ossuary was returned only a few weeks ago by
the Israel authorities.
Golan plans
to put it on public display, together with the expert opinions from the trial,
so that scholars and the public can decide for themselves whether this box did
truly contain the bones of the brother of Christ – a unique piece of concrete
evidence of the family of Jesus.
Related Article:
Jesus on the Lost Years, the Holy Grail, Reincarnation and Much, Much More – Golden Age of Gaia, Steve Beckow, December 24, 2013
"So many people are hungry for the truth about Jesus that we reproduce parts of two earlier interviews with him on An Hour with an Angel. Here he tells us what the Christ truly is, acknowledges that he was an avatar, explains many difficult concepts, and gives more details of his family life.
I know this is a lot of reading. I know, I know. But for those who have the time, it’s about as fascinating as it gets. If you don’t read it now, maybe salt it away. Thanks to Ellen for the transcripts."
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