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Ossuary Update

The Trial of Oded Golan

State of Israel vs. Oded Golan—You Be the Judge

This is the imaginary trial of Oded Golan, the Tel Aviv antiquities collector who owns the ossuary, or bone box, inscribed “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus.” He is charged with forging the inscription. You be the judge (there are no juries in Israel): Don’t assume that the Judge’s courtroom rulings on objections and the like are all correct or all incorrect. CLERK OF COURT: The State of Israel vs. Oded Golan, Criminal Case Number aleph, beth, gimmel, dalet. PROSECUTOR: Call Professor Frank M. Cross to the stand. PROSECUTOR: Professor Cross, please state your affiliation. CROSS: I am […]

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Endnotes

1.

See Harvard Semitic Museum Newsletter, February 2003.

2.

Discovery Channel, James, Brother of Jesus, April 20, 2003.

3.

See “Lying Scholars?” in this issue.

4.

Statement to the Annual Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature, “Where Did You Get That? Archaeology, Artifacts, and the Antiquities Trade,” Atlanta, November 22, 2003, based on a statistical study of provenanced and unprovenanced objects.

5.

See Goren’s statement in the IAA committee report.

6.

See report of Esther Eshel to the IAA Committee.

7.

See James A. Harrell, “Final Blow to IAA Report: Flawed Geochemistry Used to Condemn James Inscription,” BAR, January/February 2004.

8.

Jerusalem: Carta, 1997.

9.

See Eric Meyers, “More Evidence: Ossuary a Fraud?” at www.bibleinterp.com and “Lying Scholars?” this issue.

10.

See Hershel Shanks, “A Tale of Two Meetings,” BAR, March/April 2004.

11.

A Catalogue of Jewish Ossuaries (Jerusalem: Israel Antiquities Authority and the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 1994).

12.

Told to BAR editor Hershel Shanks in front of others.

13.

“Don’t Rush to Judgment.”

14.

See his letter in the Queries & Comments section of this issue.