MortalWombat

Story here

MrDarwin

Here are two more news stories on it:

Biblical Inscription Ruled a Forgery

Burial Box Not from Jesus Brother -Israeli Experts

Wyz_sub10

Everyone's on this story it seems. I was just coming to post the same thing.

This excerpt provides a great bit of info on how such conclusions are drawn:

I know many people question methods use to support certain conclusions, but this example of "breaking the safety seal", so to speak, is a very tangible and understandable one.

Haran

oops. double post. I have more trouble with II telling me it is too busy to post, etc... Are you guys having problems?

Haran

I leaned toward the authenticity of the James Ossuary inscription because of the heavy scholarly weight behind it. It looks as if some of us may have to change our minds. However, I'm not sure about others, but I will be looking into who was on the committee to see if I should believe their verdict any more than that of the other excellent scholars who have weighed in on the debate. I would also like to see the actual IAA report.

One thing that bothers me is that there is at least one scholar and maybe more on this committee who post to the ANE list and were rather vehemently decrying the ossuary inscription before the committe even began its investigation. Could it be that preconceived notions influenced the group? I don't know, but I'm interested.

Vorkosigan, can you now share some of what you were told about the whole affair and by whom?

Here is one of the best sources I have found so far (IAA seems to have nothing on their website!) and it appears to mention the scholars involved:

Archaeology Magazine

Other news agencies are mixing up information about the JI and the JO... Be careful.

I believe this is one of those mixups... " "The inscription appears new, written in modernity by someone attempting to reproduce ancient written characters," the officials said in the statement." from CNN story

godfry n. glad

http://www.archaeology.org/magazine..../ossuary/index

It looks like Shanks and Witherington are hawking a holy relic, just like the multiple Jesus foreskins, splinters of the True Cross, and snippets of the robe. <snort> They shall have to go back to their search for the holy grail. Chastened, I hope.

Anybody got any other perspectives on this that I might not be seeing?

godfry

Celsus

An excellent article godfry. James Bond. Heh heh heh.

Joel

P.S. I think I'll merge your thread with Mortal Wombat's.

Artemus

Hmm...anyone think that retractions will be printed/aired with the same publicity as the announcements? I have entirely lost what little respect I might have had for the Discovery channel after their specials.

Celsus

Really? I thought the documentary wasn't as bad as one might expect. Unfortunately for those who want to see what Oded Golan and Andre Lemaire look like, reliable sources tell me that the James Ossuary documentary isn't going to be aired in Asia after all.

Joel

godfry n. glad

Yes, and I've posted up to complaints, etc. They informed me that it happens when to many people do searches at the same time. They also thought they'd had the problem fixed weeks back...

godfry