Debut of Ossuary May Be Postponed

Controversy swirls around 2,000-year-old
relic with some critics declaring it a fraud

Insurers of a damaged artifact that some believe once contained the bones of the brother of Jesus have yet to arrive in Toronto to approve repairs, causing concern that its public display may have to be postponed. Meanwhile, critics continue to claim that the contested artifact -- a 2,000-year-old trapezoid-shaped limestone ossuary from Israel with the inscription "Ya'akov [James], son of Yosef [Joseph], brother of Yeshua [Jesus]" on one side -- deserves much more skeptical consideration or is, in fact, an outright fraud (...) The ossuary has been at the centre of an international controversy since Oct. 21. That's when the well-respected Biblical Archaeology Review announced at a press conference in Washington that it was publishing an article, by a French expert in Hebrew and Aramaic, claiming the ossuary offered the earliest authenticated archeological evidence of the existence of Jesus. Supporters of the claim, including some of the most distinguished scholars of Judaica in the Greco-Roman world, place emphasis on an analysis of the physical properties of the limestone conducted by the Geological Survey of Israel. However, John Lupia, editor of the Roman Catholic News and a scholar with degrees in art history, biblical studies and archeology, told The Globe and Mail yesterday that he "immediately knew the inscription was a fake without giving a paleographic analysis [inscription interpretation] for two reasons: biovermiculation and patina." Biovermiculation refers to the erosion and dissolution of limestone over the years by bacteria, and the resultant pitting and etching of its surface. "The ossuary had plenty," Dr. Lupia observed, "except in and around the area of the inscription. This is not normal." Examining digital photos of the ossuary, Dr. Lupia acknowledged its patina consists of "the appropriate minerals." But he disputes the Geological Survey study's observation that, because the inscription was cleaned at some point, "the patina is therefore absent from some letters."

By James Adams - The Globe and Mail - Wednesday, November 6, 2002 

Was It Jesus's Brother's?

The ossuary that is soon to be exhibited at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto may be the most important find in the continuing search for material evidence of the existence of Jesus of Nazareth through archaeological and historical means. The age of the limestone and the patina of this ossuary have already been proven scientifically to date from the first century AD. So discussions concerning its authenticity will focus largely on the provenance, or origin, of the ossuary, the type(s) of script used, and the deciphering of the words inscribed on it. Before we examine these issues, some context would be valuable in order to understand the discourse that will undoubtedly flow for many years as a result of this find, and particularly in the period during its initial exhibition. The ossuary itself is typical. The inscription is partially atypical. First, what of the ossuary? The archaeological community is very familiar with ossuaries of this period and type. As part of my research, I have studied a large number of ossuaries, their inscriptions and the places in which they were located. I reviewed this in my article on funerary customs of the Jews of early Roman Palestine, published in 1991 in Paris.

By CLaude Cohen-Matlofsky (PhD, Sorbonne), a historian specializing in the social history of early Roman Palestine. The Globe and Mail - Wednesday, November 6, 2002 

http://www.globeandmail.com/ (search: james ossuary)

Ossuary's Owner Emerges to Tell His Story

Somehow Oded Golan imagined he could keep his name out of the public glare. Until a few days ago, even officials at the Royal Ontario Museum, who hope to put the ossuary on display in Toronto later this month, knew him only by a pseudonym, "Joe." (...) Mr. Golan lives in a modest block of flats in Tel Aviv. He does not want its location identified any more than that. His medium-sized living room contains an old couch covered with a blanket, a worn wooden desk, a white baby-grand piano and one of the most stunning private collections of Holy Land antiquities in the world. In glass cases that line every wall are exquisitely sculpted oxen and delicate glass vases, huge elegant pots and tiny oil lamps, ancient menorahs, drinking cups and a large, weirdly sculpted face from a sarcophagus. If that is not enough, there are more in the kitchen, and many, many more, he said, in storage. "From the age of 8, I began to collect antiquities," he said (...). Once it has completed an exhibit at the ROM, the ossuary will return to Israel, he said. He will not sell it, but neither will he keep it in his home. "They'd try to turn [my apartment] into a church," he joked. "This sort of finding, this is not a commercial thing. Even from an archeological point of view this is not so important a finding. [But] from a religious and emotional point of view it is a completely different issue." Mr. Golan, a 51-year-old engineer and entrepreneur, probably made his predicament worse by initially insisting that his identity remain a secret.

By Paul Adams - The Globe and Mail - Thursday, November 7, 2002

http://www.globeandmail.com/ (search: james ossuary)

Bones of Contention

The legal owner of the ossuary - a Tel Aviv collector named Oded Golan, whose story is being recounted by Ha'aretz for the first time - is reluctant to supply information that is of crucial importance to researchers. Golan himself didn't get too excited when he heard about the cracks in his ossuary. " There was some sort of negligence here. I haven't seen it, I want to know what happened. But I believe there is a way to fix it," he says. (...) This modest man is Oded Golan, a 51-year-old engineer from Tel Aviv, unmarried and childless. A few hours before the press conference, he was questioned under warning for four hours at a Tel Aviv police station by investigators from the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA). They raised the suspicion that the ossuary was stolen, and that in any case, it belongs to the state and is not Golan's private property. "He wasn't surprised when he was brought in for questioning," says Amir Ganor, head of the unit for prevention of antiquity theft at the IAA. At BAR, they didn't know that the anonymous hero of the affair had been questioned by the police. "We didn't hear anything about it," says the senior editor. Says Golan: "I didn't see myself as being under investigation. They asked that I give them clarifications and what I could give them, I did." Since the discovery of the ossuary was revealed and has caused an upheaval in the Christian world, Golan has been trying to carry on his life as usual. He mourned the death of his beloved dog, which had lived with him for 20 years. Every morning, he leaves his house on the top floor of an apartment house in a quiet street in North Tel Aviv, not far from a train station, and travels to his office in South Tel Aviv, in an old, decrepit building. He has asked his acquaintances not to reveal his identity. The IAA debated whether to honor his request. Some of the senior officials there thought that his questioning under warning requires that his name be publicized. Others argued that promises should be kept, and that after saying that they would not reveal his name, they are not allowed to break that promise. Golan himself refused to be interviewed. "I always work quietly," he says, "that's my nature. I don't want headlines. I'm also afraid of thieves, and I prefer to maintain a low profile because of insurance problems and the high premiums I pay to the insurance company." He has insured the ossuary for $1 million.

By Sara Leibovich-Dar  - Ha'aretz English Edition - Friday, November 08, 2002 Kislev 3, 5763

Weblog: James Ossuary Owner Revealed, Under Fire from Israeli Government

Tel Aviv newspaper Ha'aretz has finally revealed the owner of the James ossuary, the oldest extra-textual evidence of Jesus' existence. Oded Golan is a 51-year-old Tel Aviv engineer who apparently works for Lucent Technologies—or at least did in 1998 (after five gazillion rounds of layoffs, no one works for Lucent anymore). But wait. He may not be the owner after all. Ha'aretz reports that mere hours before Biblical Archaeology Review held its press conference to announce the discovery of the bone box, the Tel Aviv police brought Golan in for questioning. "Investigators at the Antiquities Authority suspect that Golan illegally acquired this artifact, which actually belongs to the state," reports Ha'aretz's Sara Leibovich-Dar. According to the Antiquities Law, any artifacts found in Israel after 1978 (when the law was created—and when Golan was only 16 years old) are state property. That's a problem, since Biblical Archaeology Review editor Hershel Shanks has been telling folks (including Christianity Today) that Golan "got it from an Arab antiquities dealer" about 15 years ago. (...) Meanwhile, scholars and others are casting doubt on the ossuary itself. Among the critics is Uzi Dahari, deputy head of the Antiquities Authority. "Statistically the chances of it being Jesus' brother are low and we will never know the truth because the casket is from an unofficial dig and ended up in the open market," he told Reuters. "We don't even know if the cave in which it was found was in Jerusalem or far from Jerusalem. There are so many questions that will never have an answer so that no one will ever be able to say for sure that is the ossuary of the brother of Jesus." "The bone-box is original; the first inscription, which is in Aramaic, 'Jacob son of Joseph,' is authentic. The second half of the inscription, 'brother of Jesus,' is a poorly executed fake and a later addition," writes Rochelle I. Altman in the online magazine Jewsweek (a more scholarly version of her analysis is available at the IOUDAIOS-L discussion list she coordinates). Robert Eisenman, author of James the Brother of Jesus and a professor of Middle East religions and archeology at Cal State Long Beach, is upset with the Associated Press summary of his critical remarks of the James ossuary, but the Los Angeles Times gave him an op-ed to explain himself. "This box is just too pat, too perfect. In issues of antiquities verification, this is always a warning sign," he says.

Compiled by Ted Olsen -  Christianity Today Magazine - Christianity Today, Week of November 4

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2002/143/22.0.html

Ossuary's Owner to Speak in Toronto

The box, also known as an ossuary, is to be displayed at the museum [ROM - Royal Ontario Museum], in conjunction with an international biblical archeology conference, from Nov. 16 to Dec. 29. "He wasn't going to come, but once he was outed we asked if he would come and he agreed," said Jack Meinhardt, managing editor of Biblical Archeology Society, which is hosting a conference for 8,000 biblical scholars in Toronto the weekend of Nov. 23. Meinhardt said he was pleased Golan accepted the invitation to speak to scholars and the general public at two lectures - for $50 a ticket - over the weekend. 

From Canadian Press -  Toronto Star - Nov. 8, 2002. 04:46 PM

Investigators Trace History of Biblical Box

In a souvenir shop on the Via Dolorosa, an antiquities dealer studied a photo of what may — just may — be the oldest archaeological link to Jesus. Then he shrugged. It's quite possible, he said, that he handled the limestone burial box with the inscription "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus." But he couldn't remember. Over the past 40 years, the Palestinian dealer said, he and his late father sold hundreds of these ossuaries (bone containers) that were snatched from burial caves in the slopes near Jerusalem's Old City. (...) The Israel Antiquities Authority is trying to retrace the ossuary's path from its current owner, a private Israeli collector, to the cave where it was entombed in the first century A.D. (...) Mr. Avni, the former chief archeologist of Jerusalem, said there are hundreds of manmade caves in Silwan, which overlies what was Jerusalem's main cemetery in Biblical times. He said any one of about 30 antiquities dealers in the Old City could have handled the ossuary.

By Karin Laub - Associated Press - The Washington Times - November 11, 2002

ROM Unveils James Ossuary

Curators at the Royal Ontario Museum unveiled the repaired James Ossuary on Thursday. However, they said, it's unlikely that anyone will be able to scientifically prove that it once held the bones of the brother of Jesus. On one side is an inscription in Aramaic language that reads: "Yakov (James), son of Yosef (Joseph), brother of Yeshua (Jesus)". On the other is an incised star-circle and very minute flecks of red paint, common decorations on ossuaries dating between AD 50 and AD 70. "We've worked extensively on the object and now it's in great shape," said Dan Rahimi, director of collections management at the museum. "It's rock solid." The beige limestone box, measuring 51 by 28 centimeters, will be housed on the third floor of the museum inside a glass case. The artifact is the sole item in the room, painted red with text panels explaining the history of the ossuary, James's position in the church and Jewish burial practices among other things. The museum fixed several cracks that occurred during shipping as well as an "ancient" crack in the piece that had never been repaired. None of the repaired pieces were painted so that viewers can tell the difference. Fixing the ossuary required taking the box apart and cleaning some of the ancient cracks. Dirt found inside will be tested microscopically. Fossils of plant roots and bacterial staining were also seen in the grooves.

Canadian Press - The Globe and Mail - Thursday, November 14

Inscrição sobre Cristo em ossuário pode ser falsificada

O que foi anunciado em 21 de outubro como a mais antiga indicação arqueológica da existência de Jesus pode não passar de uma fraude, feita para lucrar com o comércio de relíquias sagradas. Essa é a suspeita de um grupo de especialistas sobre o "ossuário de Tiago", que carrega a inscrição "Tiago, filho de José, irmão de Jesus". Para eles, detalhes da caligrafia e do dialeto do aramaico (o idioma falado pelos judeus da época de Jesus na Palestina) usados na última parte da inscrição mostram que ela teria sido feita por outra pessoa, séculos depois da gravação original -provavelmente para associar a urna funerária a Jesus e obter lucro com isso. André Lemaire, que anunciou a descoberta há cerca de um mês, disse ter ficado "surpreso" ao ler a análise de Altman sobre a inscrição do ossuário. Steven Feldman, editor da revista "Biblical Archaelogy Review", em que a descoberta foi anunciada, diz que os estudiosos entrevistados por eles não concordam com a contestação. "Seria preciso ser mais cego que um morcego para não ver que duas pessoas diferentes fizeram a inscrição", diz a pesquisadora israelense Rochelle Altman, especialista de sistemas de escrita antigos e professora da Universidade Hebraica de Jerusalém que teve seu alerta lançado no site Israel Insider. "Para mim, essa era só mais uma inscrição. Eu nem sabia o que estava nela quando me pediram para analisá-la. Quando vi o que estavam dizendo dela, fiquei surpresa ao ver que não tinham notado uma farsa tão incompetente", disse Altman à Folha.

Por Reinaldo José Lopes - Folha Online - 19/11/2002 - 11h31

http://www1.uol.com.br/folha/ciencia/ult306u7721.shtml

Authentic? Scholars Challenge James Ossuary Identification

The French scholar who discovered the purported burial box of Jesus' brother, James, strongly defended the artifact's identification today against skeptical points raised at a convention of religion scholars. Despite the doubts, Andre Lemaire asserted that "myself, I have been very cautious. I say it is very probable.'' The animated panel discussion, attended by 800 people, involved mainly crucial technical points such as grammar and the forms of handwriting in the inscription, which reads "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus.'' (...) University of Toronto archaeologist Peter Richardson told a separate panel at the Ontario museum that the inscription shows two different writing styles, but the "character of the letters changes gradually'' from one end to the other, making forgery less likely. But Kyle McCarter of Johns Hopkins University responded that the existence of two writing styles "suggests the possibility of a second hand.'' Lemaire said the more fundamental question is whether the inscription refers to the biblical James. On that, he estimated that in 1st century Jerusalem only 20 males named James might have had a father named Joseph and a brother named Jesus. He reached his "very probable'' identification because it was extremely rare to name a brother, so this particular Jesus must have stood out. John Painter, an Australian historian who has written on James, questioned the statistical basis for Lemaire's estimate.

By Richard N. Ostling - Associated Press - Published Nov. 24, 2002 startribune.com

Ioudaios-L e o Debate sobre o Ossuário de Tiago

A Lista Ioudaios é formada por uma comunidade virtual de pesquisadores ligados à discussão online sobre o judaísmo no mundo greco-romano. A lista vem discutindo desde outubro os problemas relativos ao ossuário de Tiago. Nestes últimos dias de novembro, com as visitas dos pesquisadores ao Royal Ontario Museum, onde o ossuário está em exposição, e as palestras de especialistas sobre o assunto em Toronto, a discussão na lista oferece boas novidades aos interessados. Acompanhe por exemplo a thread "Maelstrom of contending experts in Toronto". 

IOUDAIOS-L - 27 de novembro de 2002