Related articles and links |  1 of 8

The aramaic inscription on the ancient limestone burial box says simply, "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus." Unveiled a year ago, those few words on a prosaic 2,000-year-old ossuary launched a media frenzy and ignited a political row among archaeologists and Bible scholars. They've also made the ossuary's owner, a self-described collector of antiquities, into a polarizing international figure.

Owner Oded Golan, 52, is a quiet engineer from Tel Aviv. He says he bought the ossuary from an antiquities dealer in the 1970s for a few hundred dollars. Last year, Golan invited one of the world's leading experts on ancient inscriptions to examine the ossuary.

The scholar, André Lemaire of the Sorbonne in Paris, quickly became convinced that the ossuary—21 inches by 12 inches by 10 inches—was a fixture from the grave of James, "the Lord's brother," the leader of the Christian movement in first-century Jerusalem after the death of Jesus of Nazareth.

The Biblical Archaeology Society in Washington asked the Geological Survey of Israel to analyze the ossuary. The GSI found no reason to doubt its authenticity. Last October, the BAS presented the bone box as authentic. It published the findings of Lemaire and the GSI in its flagship publication, Biblical Archaeology Review. Hershel Shanks, BAR's editor, called the ossuary "the most important find in the history of New Testament archaeology."

But some archaeologists immediately questioned the bone box because it was reportedly bought from an antiquities dealer and not excavated by professional archaeologists under controlled conditions. In June the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), with a history of hostility toward collectors such as Golan, called the inscription a fabrication. Director Shuka Dorfman stated, "The inscription is a fake."

Police searched Golan's Tel Aviv home in July. They reported finding tools that could be used in forgeries. Authorities arrested Golan on July 21 on suspicion of forging ancient artifacts. Four days later, however, they released him without pressing charges. Golan, who was unavailable for comment, maintains his innocence.

Archaeologists and scholars remain divided about the James bone box. Shanks accuses Israeli authorities of trying to pressure Golan into confessing.

"I'm still not sure whether it's a forgery," Shanks told Christianity Today. "But I am sure that the Israeli authorities are handling it very badly."

The official IAA report hasn't been released yet. What has been released so far has "barn-door-wide holes in it," Shanks said.

Who's right about the mysterious bone box? No one involved in the dispute knows for sure, at least not yet. Unresolved tensions are not unusual in archaeology, but these days the field of biblical archaeology is straining under a profusion of pressures.

The discipline is not just about picks, brushes, shovels, and artifacts. It's not just about Israeli and Palestinian politics. It's also about private collectors versus professional standards; academic archaeologists versus amateurs; skeptics versus Bible believers seeking material confirmation of their faith; and about magazines with different audiences and agendas.

Archaeology is the only source of new facts about the world of the Bible. But the politics of archaeology, as much as the spadework, determines what is deemed authentic and what is not.

William Dever, the University of Arizona's professor emeritus of Near Eastern archaeology, is one of the foremost figures in the field. Dever told CT it all boils down to one question: "Who owns the past?"

next page... |  1 of 8

October 2003, Vol. 47, No. 10