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Oded Golan

“James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus” reads the now-famous inscription on the bone box. Some have claimed that scratches caused by wear and tear over time are not present in the first part of the inscription, showing it to be a modern forgery. Others claim that the second part of the inscription is a forgery because it seems to be by a different hand. Both claims, the Royal Ontario Museum found, can be discounted; the differences are due to over-vigorous cleaning of the first part of the inscription by its modern-day sellers.