[AnAmericanMother]

Short answer -- no.

Just more of the periodic hype from publicists who think they can get some notoriety from these exaggerated (if not entirely baseless) claims.

Like the ossuary that supposedly had "so-and-so, son of Jesus" on it, that turned out to be a forgery.

[donmeaker]

You may recall that after the 4th Century there was a great market for religious articles, Christian ones in particular. The "True Cross" the handkerchief of Veronica, ect ect.

Later, during the Crusades, "the lance that pierced Jesus' side" was discovered, based on a strong need, and a "vision", but recent tests showing it dated to the 11th century. The "Grail" was discovered, but pawned to finance some venture, and now lives in Spain.

Of course, I think the archeologists are being careful, and bringing out the information very slowly.

I personally believe that Paul's letters point to a philisophical Jesus, which some didn't think would fly, so they used Mark's cover story for the special recipe for the magic Mushroom as the basis for inventing a physical Jesus, per John Allegro's book "The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross".

In many ways Jesus was a modernization of the Mithra cult that got a great bonus when the pole star moved from Taurus, thus slaying "the great bull". Someone was moving the heavens, and Mithra was as good an explanation as any.

Joseph Smith Jr, in like manner, made up his holy books based on the fictional manuscript he stole when hired as a well digger.

Islam? The Quran was written hundreds of years after Mohammed, and they put in what would justify the recent bout of Arab agression. Alas, high taxes had made the Eastern Roman empire poor and weak, and battles over religious orthodoxy had made many look to Islam (which had no holy book to fight over as yet!) as the next best thing to liberation.

Your mileage may vary.

[avital2]

the ossuary in question was actually inscribed Ya'akov (James) son of Joseph, brother of Jesus

[Notwithstanding]

They plan to compare Jesus' DNA to Anna Nicole Smith's baby.

[RebelBanker]

I do not know how common the names were in that place and time. The one brother is listed in the article as Jofa or Joseph, which contradicts his name being known as James. Thus, I think we are much more likely to be reading about the burial site of a family who happen to have similar names and not the "True Tomb." My interest is more in what we can learn about the time in which Jesus lived. I love history and finds like this can yield lots of information so long as the researchers do not try to impose their own preconceptions.

[Lynne]

"Like the ossuary that supposedly had "so-and-so, son of Jesus" on it, that turned out to be a forgery."

Actually, I read a theory somewhere recently (can't remember where though) that speculated the ossuary actually came from this family tomb.