IS AN old bone box an elaborate hoax or a priceless relic with a direct connection to Jesus?
After five years鈥� deliberation, a trial in an Israeli court has still to reach a verdict over the provenance of an ossuary bearing the Aramaic inscription 鈥淛ames, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus鈥�.
The proof, or lack of it, is in the patina 鈥� the centuries-old crust that accrues on all antique objects. The Israeli justice ministry is prosecuting the ossuary鈥檚 owner, antiques dealer Oded Golan, for fraud. Golan is charged with scratching the 鈥渂rother of Jesus鈥� inscription himself and slathering it with a homemade patina.
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Archaeologist Yuval Goren of Tel Aviv University, an expert witness for the prosecution, says the patina contains micro marine fossils, and that it crystallised at unnaturally high temperatures, both indications of patina-faking.
