In a matter of only two weeks last October the news of a major archaeological artifact hit the major newspapers of the world. A bone box known as an ossuary, used for burials during the first century A.D., had the intriguing inscription “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus.” New Testament connections immediately came to mind. Several references indicate that Jesus had a brother named James (Matt 13:55) and that he later became a leader in the early Christian church (Gal 1:19; Acts 15:13). But the find also raised important questions. Is it authentic? Where was it found? Could this indeed be the ossuary belonging to the brother of Jesus? These questions are not always readily answered and the circumstances surrounding this discovery also complicate matters.

The ossuary was in a private collection. According to the owner, Oded Golan, an engineer living in Tel Aviv, it was purchased from an antiquities dealer in Jerusalem in the early 1970s. That means that the place where it was found is unknown, a matter that would help in establishing its authenticity as well as its date. The ossuary’s important link to Jesus was not discovered until the prominent French epigrapher, Andre Lemaire, was invited to look at some of the materials in Golan’s private collection. He read the inscription and recognized its possible link to the New Testament and Jesus. According to the style of writing he dated the inscription and ossuary to about A.D. 66 and believes that the inscription is authentic. Further investigation by the Israel Geological Survey indicated that there was no evidence that the inscription was forged in modern times. The ossuary is now on display at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. If it is authentic, as it appears to be, it would be one of the most significant archaeological discoveries relating to the New Testament to date. Not only would it contain the earliest extra-biblical reference to Jesus, but it is also the first found on an ancient artifact that can be dated to the first century.