BAR does not know whether these inscriptions are forgeries or not. BAR does not know whether there has been a forgery factory operating for 15 years. BAR does not know, assuming such a factory existed, whether Oded Golan, the owner of the James ossuary, is at the center of it. BAR does not know whether Oded Golan is a forger or not.
What we do know is that the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) investigation is being handled very poorly. What we do know is that the IAA has not demonstrated with reliable evidence any of these extremely serious allegations.
What we do know is that the report of the IAA—in which the IAA purported to act as a court, concluding that both the James ossuary inscription and the Jehoash inscription are forgeries—is deeply flawed and entirely unsatisfactory.a What we do know is that the scientists’ promised detailed report that would support the geological issues raised by the IAA committee has not yet been released—now more than a year since the IAA in a widely hyped press conference announced that these objects were forgeries.
