The "James" ossuary
Unprovenanced. The box is ancient; whether the reference to Jesus is ancient is disputed, and an acquittal in court did not settle it.
DisputedObject1st century AD (inscription disputed)
A limestone bone-box inscribed "James son of Joseph, brother of Jesus". It has no findspot. The Israel Antiquities Authority declared the second half of the inscription a modern forgery and prosecuted the owner; after a seven-year trial he was acquitted of forgery, the court finding the prosecution had not proved its case — which is not the same as the inscription being authenticated.
Ya'akov bar Yosef akhui di Yeshua — James son of Joseph, brother of Jesus.
- Found
- Unknown — surfaced on the antiquities market, 2002 — No excavation context
- Now held at
- Private collection, Israel
- Language
- Aramaic
- How it reached us
- Dug up, or still standing where it was built.
What it shows
No excavation context, a failed prosecution rather than a positive authentication, and continuing disagreement among epigraphers. All three names were extremely common.
How historians use it
Widely reported in the press; treated with caution in scholarship because of the provenance and the trial.
In Scripture
Connects to
Sources
These summaries are written in English for now. Translations follow.