The “James Ossuary” – Seven Year Forgery Trial finally comes to an end but the debate over the authenticity of the oldest archaeological link to Jesus is far from over.
On the 14th March 2012, Israeli art collector Oded Golan, charged in 2004 of leading an international forgery ring that allegedly made and sold fake biblical art works, was found not guilty in the Jesus burial box case.
This is a case that has gripped the art world, archaeologists and religious scholars for about a decade because rather sensationally the case principally concerned a burial box that was around 2000 years old that was said to have belonged to Jesus’ brother James.
It is an ossuary made of limestone with the Aramaic inscription that says:
“James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus.”
If found to be a genuine artefact, then this casket would be the oldest archaeological link to Jesus.
Whether Jesus had any siblings is a matter of religious dispute. Some Roman Catholic Churches and other denominations do not accept that Jesus had siblings. However James is mentioned to be Jesus’ brother in the Gospels.
Golan declared his find in 2002 and was supported by Andre Lemaire, an expert scholar of ancient texts. The box was then put on public display for the first time at the Royal Ontario Museum.
Apart from the James Ossuary, Mr Golan had around the same time brought to the world’s attention another discovery he had made– the Jehoash Inscription.
This is a stone tablet that is said to describe in a Hebrew inscription the renovation of work done nearly 3000 years ago by King Jehoash to Soloman’s Temple in Jerusalem.
The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) became involved in the case and were concerned with how these artefacts had been discovered.
In 2003 the IAA committees with their own experts found that while the ossuary may be genuine, it was the inscriptions that were forgeries.
This is the first time that an antiquities forgery trial has been brought before the Criminal Courts and the Prosecutor Dan Bahat had said that they were trying to set an international precedent.
Golan was charged along with four other defendants in December 2004 of 18 separate counts of fraud, forgery and obtaining money by deception. The case against them concerned a huge number of antiquities.
The case commenced in the autumn of 2005. The prosecution summation ran to 653 pages. The Judge then heard over 100 expert witnesses providing testimony. He also had to consider about 12,000 pages of witness evidence and examine 200 exhibits that were mostly books and scholarly articles.
The evidence was so technical that even the lawyers conducted scientific experiments to demonstrate their respective points about the science of the aging of an artefact and how this could be faked.
The Judge Aharon Farkash of the Jerusalem District Court had observed that if the experts could not agree whether the ossuary and other archaeological artefacts were genuine then he did not see how he could find against the defendants to the criminal standard of beyond all reasonable doubt.
There is a 475 page judgment in this case. In the end the Judge was unable to reach a conclusion as to whether the burial box was fake or not.
The Judge said:
“The indictment…accused Golan of faking antiquities in different ways. For certain items, I decided that it was not proven, as required in criminal law, that they were fake. But there is nothing in these findings which necessarily proves that the items were authentic….
All that was determined was that the means, the tools and the science available at present, along with the experts who testified, was not enough to prove the alleged fraud beyond all reasonable doubt.”
Worse still, was the Judge’s criticism of the tests carried out by the Israeli police forensic laboratory which had probably caused contamination that would have prevented any further scientific tests from working.
The Court had said that it is likely that the James Ossuary is to continue to be “researched in the archaeological and scientific worlds and only the future will tell.”
Golan was acquitted of the serious charges.
The IAA claimed a victory in so far as Golan was convicted of three other antiquity law violations, of illegal antiquities dealing and possession of stolen antiquities.
The IAA also said in a statement said that there has “been a dramatic reduction in the scope of antiquities robbery occurring arising at biblical sites in Israel.”
The case has brought to the world’s attention the problems arising out of the trade in archaeological works in Israel, the problems concerning the authentication of those finds and that science will no doubt be continued to be used to try and reveal the truth.
Jessica Franses