Footnote 1 – First Person: Oded’s Other Ossuary
The claim that the inscription is a forgery was raised by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), which eventually charged Oded Golan with forging it. Both Lemaire and Israel’s leading paleographer of this period, Ada Yardeni, are confident that the inscription is authentic. No paleographer has claimed otherwise. Clay expert Yuval Goren of Tel Aviv University initially claimed it was a forgery, but at Golan’s trial, Goren was forced to admit that original patina could be seen in the word “Jesus.” Golan was acquitted. See Hershel Shanks, “‘Brother of Jesus’ Inscription Is Authentic,” BAR 38:04. Nevertheless, the IAA has successfully raised doubt in the public mind, something that is likely to be the case for a generation.