yet dan RATher is still walking amongst is...
Posted on 12/24/2004 10:43:34 AM PST by flitton
AN ISRAELI collector of antiquities who stunned the world with a find that he said was the burial container of Jesus’ “brother”, James, is to be charged with forgery.
Justice Ministry officials said last night that Oded Golan would be indicted next week on a range of charges that would include forgery over an inscription on the stone container that carried the script in Aramaic reading: “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus”.
Six others are also to be charged.
The discovery of the ossuary in October 2002 was hailed as one of the great archaeological discoveries of the age as it demonstrated a physical connection between the modern world and the Bible.
But suspicions were raised after experts were not given sufficient time to examine the ossuary properly before it was put on public display.
Closer inspection of the 50cm (20in) by 27cm (11in) container showed that the first section of the inscription was straight while the second section, “brother of Jesus”, was crooked.
Israel’s Antiquities Authority has concluded that the markings on the burial box, which dates from about 2,000 years ago when they were common, was an elaborate hoax. Part of the carving cut through the patina.
A documentary broadcast on Israeli television this year described Mr Golan as a talented confidence trickster who made millions of pounds selling forged antiquities to gullible buyers around the world.
Yoni Pagis, the deputy head of the Jerusalem fraud squad, told the film-makers that the fraud involved “dozens of items (produced) in co-operation with a number of people over a period of many years. It’s a real Pandora’s box. The scale is huge.”
Mr Golan declined to comment but said he would discuss the issue later. He has previously denied having any connection with forgeries.
yet dan RATher is still walking amongst is...
That's what tipped me off that it was fake. People were much taller then.
Your right. Old news.
Oh well, I've still got Jesus's cousin Lenny's baseball card collection, once they verify the authenticity I'll be rich!
I think I saw a story on 60 minutes about this just last Sunday.
I presumed the new information, or the peg to hang the story on, was the fact that there have now been charges laid.
Hershel Shanks' gullible acceptance of this fake at face value is why I let my subscription to Biblical Archaeology Review expire. That plus the fact that I got tired of reading the personal attacks by one archeologist against another.
The wording on them may be in Hebrew but frankly I think it was done using Word. Have you checked the formatting?
This story was debunked from the get-go. Then the anti-Christians tried to raise it again and it still wouldn't fly. But one piece of fresh news is that they have now indicted the perps.
I suggest that it didn't fly because Christianity is not based on its artefacts. Fake relics are not going to be any more undermining than the whole 'Da Vinci Code' industry, the predecessors of it and the doubtless many equally worthless books which have yet to be written will be.
Are you insinuating that Pete Rose was NOT on the Jerusalem Jaybirds?
"That's what tipped me off that it was fake. People were much taller then."
Only the last half of the inscription was faked, while the container and it's contents were real.
The container is described in the article as being an 'ossuary', a vessel that is used to hold the BONES of a deceased. Lacking the mass of a complete body, it needs be only as long as the longest bone.
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