"Not possible. I have the bones in a box in my basement."
Posted on 02/24/2007 9:14:06 AM PST by aculeus
In a scene worthy of a Dan Brown novel, archaeologists a quarter of a century ago unearthed a burial chamber near Jerusalem.
Inside they found ossuaries, or boxes of bones, marked with the names of Jesus, Joseph and Mary.
Then one of the ossuaries went missing. The human remains inside were destroyed before any DNA testing could be carried out.
While Middle East academics doubt that the relics belong to the Holy Family, the issue is about to be exposed to a blaze of publicity with the publication next week of a book.
Entitled The Jesus Tomb and co-written by Simcha Jacobovici and Charles Pellegrino, the book promises the inside story of "what may very well be the greatest archaeological find of all time".
Some of the ossuaries will be at the book launch in New York, released by the Israel Antiquities Authority.
The story began in March 1980 when Yosef Gat, an archaeologist employed by the IAA, surveyed a burial chamber on the south-eastern approaches of Jerusalem.
The area was being developed into the latest suburb of the city, East Talpiot, and bulldozers had uncovered an archaeological site.
Mr Gat found a standard-looking Jewish tomb dating from the era of King Herod, the Jewish king known for his ambitious building works and for his murder of infants at the time of the birth of Jesus.
After crawling into the necropolis Mr Gat found the main chamber had been silted up with soil and debris, with six "kokhim", coffin shaped spaces leading off the main chamber where human remains were housed.
According to Jewish rites, bodies would be left for a year or so to decompose in the "kokhim" before relatives came back to gather the bones and store them in ossuaries.
Mr Gat found 10 ossuaries bearing inscriptions. Some were in ancient Greek and some were in Hebrew.
One inscription said "Jesus, son of Joseph", another said "Mara", a common form of Mary, and another said "Yose", a common form of Joseph.
The authors were unavailable for comment yesterday but it is understood they base their claim that the burial chamber contained the remains of the Holy Family on their own study carried out inside the structure.
The chamber has been closed for years because a building was constructed on top of it but the authors got permission to break through an apartment block floor.
They claim to have found human material on which they performed DNA testing in a New York laboratory.
"Tests prove the names are genetically of the same family and statistically, there is a one in 10 million chance this is a family other than the Holy Family," the pre-publication publicity for the book said.
However, according to strict Christian teaching, Jesus ascended to heaven, so there would be no bones left behind.
Mr Gat died several years ago. His boss, Prof Amos Kloner said that while the names together had "a certain power" they are standard.
"At least three other ossuaries have been found inscribed with the name Jesus and countless others with Joseph and Mary," he said.
The 10 ossuaries were taken initially to the Rockefeller Archaeological Museum outside the Old City of Jerusalem. Nine were catalogued and stored but the tenth was left outside in a courtyard.
That ossuary has subsequently gone missing.
The story went cold until two accounts of the discovery were published by Israeli academics in the mid 1990s. Prof Kloner wrote the second one in the IAA's in-house magazine Atiquot in 1996.
It sparked publicity, most notably a BBC programme shown that Easter produced by Ray Bruce called The Body In Question. However, Prof Kloner said there was no way the tomb housed the Holy Family.
"It is just not possible that a family who came from Galilee, as the New Testament tells us of Joseph and Mary, would be buried over several generations in Jerusalem."
However, in this Dan Brown era, we can't help wondering.
Geez. I think that movie has already been made.
Gee...that sure was a convenient find.
Got that right!
Bones of Jesus, Mary and Joseph?
I think someone has been dipping into the wine a wee bit too much.
The Jesus I know did not leave any bones as he was resurrected from the dead so I'll refrain from buying into the hype.
...or subscribing to the theory that "there's one (or more) born every minute."
Likewise, Mary was assumed body and soul into Heaven.
"Tests prove the names are genetically of the same family and statistically, there is a one in 10 million chance this is a family other than the Holy Family," the pre-publication publicity for the book said."
How many Marys were there in the gospels anyway? Were there any other women by name other than one Martha?
There was a time in England when fully half the men were named by six given names - the classic Tom, Dick and Harry, John and Robert.. and the same for women - Ann, Joan, Mary, Margaret...
Could well be the same in ancient Palestine.
Mrs VS
Those Mexicans sure get around. :-)
"However, in this Dan Brown era, we can't help wondering.
See that quote? The same Dan Brown whose FICTIONAL book full of half-truths and outright lies which were easily disproved, yet still managed to fool the ill informed. In this Dan Brown era, facts be damned! If you can imagine it, then it must be true! Disclaimer! : The previous sentence only applies to Christianity, all other faiths are sacrosanct (especially islam).
Funny..... I seem to have read those very same verses. I wonder how they'll reconcile the contradiction in the movie.
..some more blasphemous nonsense
The index of The Works of Josephus includes several men named "Jesus" including a "Jesus, son of Saphat, ringleader of robbers".
the telegraph also brought us this today
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1790315/posts
the telegraph and al jazeera, are they one and the same?
I've noticed that these "discoveries" and THEORIES (e.g., denial of the Virgin Birth) always manage to rise to the top of the news cycle during Lent, Advent & Holy Week. They receive little notice; then they disappear, only to return at another time of importance to Christians. It's been going on for as long as I can remember...
The assumption of the Virgin is Church tradition. It's not in the Bible and it's not in the Nicene Creed. It is, however, a very ancient tradition. I suppose we could all get into a huge theological argument about it but I doubt whether anyone in this community has the creds to do much besides rant about it.
"Not possible. I have the bones in a box in my basement."
The quoted part was a decree by Pope Pius XII in 1950, but the story of Mary's death (or lack of Earthly death) go back to the early days of Christianity.
Sorry .. but Jesus was resurrected - BONES AND ALL - so there could never be any "bones" belonging to Jesus.
However, the bones of Abraham and Joseph are supposed to be burried near Hebron.
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