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James Ossuary
The James Ossuary is a limestone box that is claimed to be from the 1st-century that was used for containing the bones of the dead. An Aramaic inscription reading "Jacob (James), son of Joseph, brother of Yeshua" in translation is cut into one side of the box. The ossuary attracted scholarly attention due to its possible association with the Christian Holy Family. It has been the subject of continuing debate over its authenticity. In a trial that lasted from 2004 to 2012, Oded Golan and others were tried for forging the inscription. The judge found that the evidence was insufficient to establish their guilt, while making it clear that the verdict did not prove or disprove the authenticity of the inscription.
An ossuary is a stone (usually limestone) depository for storing bones of the dead, considered a luxury for the elite. The dead would lie on a loculus in a tomb for a year of decomposition, and then the remains would be collected and placed in an ossuary. Depending on the wealth and taste of the family, the box would sometimes be inscribed with decorations or the name of the deceased. The James Ossuary measures 50.5 by 25 by 30.5 centimetres (19.9 in × 9.8 in × 12.0 in), which is slightly smaller than average compared to other ossuaries of the time. Owner Oded Golan said that, if the inscription on the James Ossuary is genuine, it may indicate that the ossuary was that of James the Just, the brother of Jesus.
Professor Camil Fuchs of Tel Aviv University stated that, other than the James Ossuary, there has so far only been one found, amongst thousands of ossuaries, that contains a reference to a brother, concluding that "there is little doubt that this [naming a brother or son] was done only when there was a very meaningful reason to refer to a family member of the deceased, usually due to his importance and fame." He produced a statistical analysis of the occurrence of these three names in ancient Jerusalem and projected that there would only have been 1.71 people named James, with a father named Joseph and a brother named Jesus, expected to be living in Jerusalem around the time at which the ossuary was produced.
The existence of the James Ossuary was announced at a press conference in Washington, D.C., on October 21, 2002. It was organized by Hershel Shanks, founder of the Biblical Archaeology Society. He presented it as the first direct archaeological link to the historical Jesus.
Shanks also announced that the ossuary would be featured at an exhibit at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Ontario, opening the following month. The opening was to coincide with meetings of scholarly groups such as the Society of Biblical Literature and American Academy of Religion that were to take place in the city in November.
The James Ossuary came from the Silwan area in the Kidron Valley, southeast of the Temple Mount. The bones originally inside the ossuary had been discarded, which is the case in nearly all ossuaries not discovered by archaeologists.[citation needed] The only time Jews conducted burials in this fashion of ossuary was from approximately 20 BC to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. The fragile condition of the ossuary attests to its antiquity. The Israel Geological Survey submitted the ossuary to a variety of scientific tests, which determined that the limestone of the ossuary had a patina or sheen consistent with being in a cave for many centuries. The same type of patina covers the incised lettering of the inscription as the rest of the surface. It is claimed that, if the inscription were recent, this would not be the case.[page needed]
Antiquities dealer Oded Golan invited Parisian epigrapher André Lemaire to view the ossuary in his apartment. According to Lemaire, the cursive Aramaic script is consistent with first-century lettering. He determined that the inscription was not incised with modern tools, as it contains no chemical elements not available in the ancient world. The first part of the inscription, "James son of Joseph", seems more deeply incised than the latter "brother of Jesus". This may be due to the inscription being made at a different time, or due to differences in the hardness of the limestone.[citation needed]
On June 18, 2003, the Israeli Antiquities Authority published a report, based on their analysis of the patina, which concluded that the inscription is a modern forgery. Specifically, it claimed that the inscription was added in modern times and made to look old by addition of a chalk solution. In 2006, Wolfgang Elisabeth Krumbein, a world-renowned expert in stone patinas, called by the defense counsel, analyzed the ossuary and concluded that "the inscription is ancient and most of the original patina has been removed (by cleaning or use of sharp implement)". He further noted in his report, "any forgery of three very distinct types of patina, if ever possible, requires the development of ultra-advanced techniques, in-depth knowledge and extensive collaboration of a large number of experts from various fields". According to his analysis, the patina inside the inscription took at least 50 years to form; thus, if it is a forgery, then it was forged more than 50 years ago.
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James Ossuary
The James Ossuary is a limestone box that is claimed to be from the 1st-century that was used for containing the bones of the dead. An Aramaic inscription reading "Jacob (James), son of Joseph, brother of Yeshua" in translation is cut into one side of the box. The ossuary attracted scholarly attention due to its possible association with the Christian Holy Family. It has been the subject of continuing debate over its authenticity. In a trial that lasted from 2004 to 2012, Oded Golan and others were tried for forging the inscription. The judge found that the evidence was insufficient to establish their guilt, while making it clear that the verdict did not prove or disprove the authenticity of the inscription.
An ossuary is a stone (usually limestone) depository for storing bones of the dead, considered a luxury for the elite. The dead would lie on a loculus in a tomb for a year of decomposition, and then the remains would be collected and placed in an ossuary. Depending on the wealth and taste of the family, the box would sometimes be inscribed with decorations or the name of the deceased. The James Ossuary measures 50.5 by 25 by 30.5 centimetres (19.9 in × 9.8 in × 12.0 in), which is slightly smaller than average compared to other ossuaries of the time. Owner Oded Golan said that, if the inscription on the James Ossuary is genuine, it may indicate that the ossuary was that of James the Just, the brother of Jesus.
Professor Camil Fuchs of Tel Aviv University stated that, other than the James Ossuary, there has so far only been one found, amongst thousands of ossuaries, that contains a reference to a brother, concluding that "there is little doubt that this [naming a brother or son] was done only when there was a very meaningful reason to refer to a family member of the deceased, usually due to his importance and fame." He produced a statistical analysis of the occurrence of these three names in ancient Jerusalem and projected that there would only have been 1.71 people named James, with a father named Joseph and a brother named Jesus, expected to be living in Jerusalem around the time at which the ossuary was produced.
The existence of the James Ossuary was announced at a press conference in Washington, D.C., on October 21, 2002. It was organized by Hershel Shanks, founder of the Biblical Archaeology Society. He presented it as the first direct archaeological link to the historical Jesus.
Shanks also announced that the ossuary would be featured at an exhibit at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Ontario, opening the following month. The opening was to coincide with meetings of scholarly groups such as the Society of Biblical Literature and American Academy of Religion that were to take place in the city in November.
The James Ossuary came from the Silwan area in the Kidron Valley, southeast of the Temple Mount. The bones originally inside the ossuary had been discarded, which is the case in nearly all ossuaries not discovered by archaeologists.[citation needed] The only time Jews conducted burials in this fashion of ossuary was from approximately 20 BC to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. The fragile condition of the ossuary attests to its antiquity. The Israel Geological Survey submitted the ossuary to a variety of scientific tests, which determined that the limestone of the ossuary had a patina or sheen consistent with being in a cave for many centuries. The same type of patina covers the incised lettering of the inscription as the rest of the surface. It is claimed that, if the inscription were recent, this would not be the case.[page needed]
Antiquities dealer Oded Golan invited Parisian epigrapher André Lemaire to view the ossuary in his apartment. According to Lemaire, the cursive Aramaic script is consistent with first-century lettering. He determined that the inscription was not incised with modern tools, as it contains no chemical elements not available in the ancient world. The first part of the inscription, "James son of Joseph", seems more deeply incised than the latter "brother of Jesus". This may be due to the inscription being made at a different time, or due to differences in the hardness of the limestone.[citation needed]
On June 18, 2003, the Israeli Antiquities Authority published a report, based on their analysis of the patina, which concluded that the inscription is a modern forgery. Specifically, it claimed that the inscription was added in modern times and made to look old by addition of a chalk solution. In 2006, Wolfgang Elisabeth Krumbein, a world-renowned expert in stone patinas, called by the defense counsel, analyzed the ossuary and concluded that "the inscription is ancient and most of the original patina has been removed (by cleaning or use of sharp implement)". He further noted in his report, "any forgery of three very distinct types of patina, if ever possible, requires the development of ultra-advanced techniques, in-depth knowledge and extensive collaboration of a large number of experts from various fields". According to his analysis, the patina inside the inscription took at least 50 years to form; thus, if it is a forgery, then it was forged more than 50 years ago.