On the ossuaries were found many more or less symbol signs (crosses, tau, Constantinian monograms) and 43 inscriptions (Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek) incised or traced with charcoal. Of interest is the recurrence of names common in the New Testament, as Mary, Martha, Philo the Cyrene, Matthew, Joseph, Jesus. For the religious, historical and artistic value of these tombs consult Gli scavi del Dominus Flevit by Bagatti and Milik, Jerusalem, 1968.

But. Later and more careful inspection of those orssaries, along with consideration of the vast array of available ossuary inscriptions and their crosslike markings, dismissed those claims. The cross, it turns out, was perhaps simply the letter tau or a mason's mark indicating where the lid was to be positioned. The initial reading of the charcoal graffito ignored additional marks that resembled the Greek letter delta.... These temporaily spectacular inscriptions simply identified the dead person, as did the names on the chambers other ossuaries, which is always the purpose of ossuary inscriptions. No cross, no appeals to Jesus, no earliest Christian record.