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Inscription on burial box referring to Jesus is a fake, say Israeli experts
2003-151C
6/25/2003
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[Episcopal News Service]
An inscription referring to Jesus on an ancient limestone burial box was pronounced a modern-day forgery by 14 leading Israeli archaeologists and scientists.
The inscription 'James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus' carved into the box in Aramaic letters had prompted speculation that it referred to St James, who, according to some New Testament translations, was Jesus' brother. If authentic, it would have been the first archaeological discovery to corroborate biblical references to Jesus. But the Israeli committee established to determine the authenticity of the burial box, known as an ossuary, found that while the receptacle was from about the time of Jesus, the inscription was probably carved some time in the last 20 years.
'The ossuary is original. The inscription is a fake,' said Dr. Uzi Dahari, a member of the panel. Ossuaries were widely used between 20 BC and 70 AD to preserve the bones of the dead. Hundreds have been found in archaeological digs in the Jerusalem area.
The committee chairman, Dr. Gideon Avni, said the verdict resulted from a scientific examination of the patina of the box, which is a natural film that forms on surfaces over time. Scientists, he said, had found the inscription was carved over the original patina and a new patina had then formed on top of the carving.
There is no doubt it is a forgery,' Avni told ENI. He said the inscription, which appeared so authentic that it had convinced noted paleographer Andre Lemaire of Paris's Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (Sorbonne), had been carved by an expert forger. 'It appears the person who did this used an archaeological book of inscriptions and copied the letters,' Avni said. The committee's decision to declare the inscription a forgery was 'unanimous' and was based on unequivocal scientific evidence, he said.
But Avni said there was one small part of the inscription which could not be conclusively ruled a fake and that was the word 'Jesus,' although it was, he said, the second most common name in the region 2000 years ago.
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