A limestone burial box engraved in Aramaic with the words 鈥淛ames, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus鈥� could be the earliest archaeological evidence of the existence of the Biblical Jesus, says an inscriptions expert.
鈥淚t seems very probable that this is the ossuary of the James in the New Testament,鈥� Andr茅 Lemaire at the Sorbonne University in Paris writes in the Biblical Archaeology Review. 鈥淚f so, this would mean that we have here the first epigraphic mention 鈥� from about 63 AD 鈥� of Jesus of Nazareth.鈥�
Lemaire accepts it is impossible to prove that the Jesus mentioned on the 50-centimetre-long box is indeed the Jesus of Nazareth described in the Bible.
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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 AD.
鈥淭he James ossuary may be the most important find in the history of New Testament archaeology,鈥� says Hershel Shanks, editor of the Biblical Archaeology Review. 鈥淚t has implications not just for scholarship but for the world鈥檚 understanding of the Bible.鈥�
Important or famous
Jews practised ossuary burial only between 20 BC and 70 AD, 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. 鈥淪ince the research comes from Andre Lemaire, I take it very seriously,鈥� James VanderKam at the University of Notre Dame, US, told the New York Times. 鈥淚f it is authentic, and it looks like it is, this is helpful non-biblical confirmation of the existence of this man James.鈥�
Unearthed by looters
A team at the Geological Survey of Israel has investigated the box, and reportedly found nothing to contradict Lemaire鈥檚 approximate date of construction.
But the ossuary鈥檚 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鈥檚 tentative date of 63 AD comes from the writings of a first century historian called Josephus. He states that James, 鈥渢he brother of Jesus鈥�, was stoned to death in 62AD. 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.