Jerusalem Artifact Could Be Earliest Relating to Existence of Jesus
An inscription in stone, found in or near Jerusalem and written in a language and script of 2,000 years ago, bears the words "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus."Posted by Heretic at October 21, 2002 02:27 PM | TrackBack
This could well be the earliest artifact ever found relating to the existence of Jesus, a French scholar has concluded in an analysis of the inscription being published this week in the magazine Biblical Archaeology Review.
AdvertisementIf the inscription is authentic and indeed refers to Jesus of Nazareth, it would be the earliest known documentation of Jesus outside the Bible. The magazine, which announced the find today, is promoting it as "the first-ever archaeological discovery to corroborate biblical references to Jesus."
I think this is a particularly fascinating story. I can't reference this (I heard it on NPR), but it seems that stones, such as the ossuary, which are stored in caves, develop a surface patina. The patinas on both the ossuary and the inscription itself were found to be identical, indicating that the inscription was as old as the box (i.e., around 63 AD), and not a forgery that was inscribed later.
I guess, the more interesting question is: given that ossuaries like the one that was discovered were only in common use for about a 50 year time span: What's the probability of family living during that time (and place) having a father named Joseph and two sons, James and Jesus?
Posted by: Beth on October 24, 2002 09:43 PM