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A limestone burial box engraved in Aramaic with the words "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus" could be the earliest archaeological evidence of the existence of the Biblical Jesus, says an inscriptions expert.

An Aramaic inscription on the box reads "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus"

"It seems very probable that this is the ossuary of the James in the New Testament," André Lemaire at the Sorbonne University in Paris writes in the Biblical Archaeology Review. "If so, this would mean that we have here the first epigraphic mention-from about 63 A.D.-of Jesus of Nazareth."

Lemaire accepts that it may be impossible to prove that the Jesus mentioned on the 50-centimeter-long box is indeed the Jesus of Nazareth described in the Bible.

There is no organic material in the empty box, so radiocarbon dating is impossible. But based on his analysis of the style of the script and the position of certain words, Lemaire believes the inscription was made around 63 A.D.

"The James ossuary may be the most important find in the history of New Testament archaeology," says Hershel Shanks, editor of the Biblical Archaeology Review. "It has implications not just for scholarship but for the world's understanding of the Bible."

Important or famous

Jews practiced ossuary burial only between 20 B.C. and 70 A.D., Lemaire says. And though the names in the inscription are common ones, he estimates that only 20 Jameses in Jerusalem during that time would have had a father named Joseph and a brother named Jesus.

There is only one other example of a brother being named along with the father on an ossuary, Lemaire adds. He therefore concludes that the Jesus mentioned on the box must have been unusually important or famous.

Other scholars have cautiously welcomed the findings. "Since the research comes from Andre Lemaire, I take it very seriously," James VanderKam at the University of Notre Dame, U.S., told the New York Times. "If it is authentic, and it looks like it is, this is helpful non-biblical confirmation of the existence of this man James."

Unearthed by looters

A team at the Geological Survey of Israel has investigated the box and reportedly found nothing to contradict Lemaire's approximate date of construction.

But the ossuary's history is murky, raising doubts in other researchers. The anonymous current owner says he bought it from an antiquities dealer in Jerusalem, who claimed it was unearthed by looters south of the Mount of Olives.

Lemaire's tentative date of 63 A.D. comes from the writings of a first century historian called Josephus. He states that James, "the brother of Jesus," was stoned to death in 62 A.D. At the time, Jewish burials involved placing the body in a sealed rock tomb for a year, then collecting the bones and placing them in an ossuary box.

It is unclear whether that practice was continued by early Christians, say religious scholars.

New Scientist October 22, 2002

DR. MERCOLA'S COMMENT:

Jews in Jerusalem in the hundred years before and after Jesus' birth practiced secondary burial-the transfer of bones of the deceased from a first grave into a container that was then deposited in the family burial cave.

Archaeologists have unearthed thousands of such boxes, ranging from ornately carved and painted chests to utilitarian containers devoid of any inscription. The James ossuary fell somewhere in the middle.

Geological Survey of Israel scientists have determined that the box was made of limestone quarried intensively from the Mount Scopus ridge (which includes the Bible's Mount of Olives) in the first and second centuries A.D. The cauliflower-shaped structure of the limestone's patina-a mineral sheen that develops with age-indicated that it had spent centuries in a cave. Citing the absence of modern chemicals, telltale disruptions in the patina and marks in the stone by modern tools, they confirmed its antiquity and ruled out forgery. Independent scholars have almost unanimously accepted their judgment.

If the 10- by 20- by 12-inch receptacle is authentic-and scholars have no reason to believe it's not-and if the inscription refers to the right James, most experts believe this would be the most important discovery in the history of New Testament archaeology. This finding shows that the Gospels to be a reliable as they confirm the relationship between James, Joseph and Jesus to be correct.

Evidence Of Jesus Written In Stone

Ossuary Of Jesus’ Brother Backs Up Biblical Accounts

After nearly 2,000 years, historical evidence for the existence of Jesus has come to light literally written in stone. An inscription has been found on an ancient bone box, called an ossuary, that reads “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus.” This container provides the only New Testament-era mention of the central figure of Christianity and is the first-ever archaeological discovery to corroborate Biblical references to Jesus.

The Aramaic words etched on the box’s side show a cursive form of writing used only from about 10 to 70 A.D., according to noted paleographer André Lemaire of the École Pratique des Hautes Études (popularly known as the Sorbonne University) in Paris, who verified the inscription’s authenticity. The ossuary has been dated to approximately 63 A.D. Lemaire details his full investigation in the November/December 2002 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review, the leading popular publication in its field.

Ancient inscriptions are typically found on royal monuments or on lavish tombs, commemorating rulers and other official figures. But Jesus, who was raised by a carpenter, was a man of the people, so finding documentation of his family is doubly unexpected.

In the first century A.D., Jews followed the custom of transferring the bones of their deceased from burial caves to ossuaries. The practice was largely abandoned after the destruction of the Jewish Temple in 70 A.D. No one knows for certain why the practice started or stopped, but it provides a rare period of self-documentation in which commoners as well as leaders left their names carved in stone.

The new find is also significant in that it corroborates the existence of Joseph, Jesus’ father, and James, Jesus’ brother and a leader of the early Christian church in Jerusalem. The family relationships contained on the new find helped experts ascertain that the inscription very likely refers to the Biblical James, brother of Jesus (see, for example, Matthew 13:55-56 and Galatians 1:18-19). Although all three names were common in ancient times, the statistical probability of their appearing in that combination is extremely slim. In addition, the mention of a brother is unusual--indicating that this Jesus must have been a well-known figure.

Laboratory tests performed by the Geological Survey of Israel confirm that the box’s limestone comes from the Jerusalem area. The patina--a thin sheen or covering that forms on stone and other materials over time--has the cauliflower-type shape known to develop in a cave environment; more importantly, it shows no trace of modern elements.

The 20-inch-long box resides in a private collection in Israel. Like many ossuaries obtained on the antiquities market, it is empty. Its history prior to its current ownership is not known.

The container is one of very few ancient artifacts mentioning New Testament figures. One such object is the ossuary of Caiaphas, the high priest who turned Jesus over to the Romans, according to the Biblical account. Caiaphas’s tomb was uncovered in 1990. Also, some 40 years ago, archaeologists discovered an inscription on a monument that mentions Pontius Pilate.

“The James ossuary may be the most important find in the history of New Testament archaeology,” says Hershel Shanks, editor of Biblical Archaeology Review. “It has implications not just for scholarship, but for the world’s understanding of the Bible.”

Biblical Archaeology Review http://www.archaeologyodyssey.org/bswb_BAR/indexBAR.html