SCIENTISTS PUZZLE OVER ANCIENT OSSUARY

摘要

In October 2002, a group of archaeologists held a press con-ference in Washington, DC, to announce a startling discov-ery. A limestone box had been discovered in Israel with the inscription "James the son of Joseph the brother of Jesus." It was a stunning find: the first physical evidence of Jesus. The news swept through the field of biblical archaeology. The ossuary, a container for the bones of the deceased meant to be kept in a cave, was already on its way to the Royal Ontario Museum, where it was to be displayed for a few months. The museum's press release said, "It may be the most important find in the history of new testament archaeology." More than a year later, in June of 2003, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced an even more stunning piece of news. A multidisciplinary committee of Israeli scientists had determined that key words on the ossuary had been added sometime in the last few years, based on philological analysis and mass spectrometry readings of the patina within the inscribed letters. The relatively small world of biblical archaeology immediately established battle lines: those who considered the ossuary a fake and those who defended its authenticity. Blistering commentaries were written by both sides, accusing the other side of everything from religious prejudice to being accomplices to fraud. Parts of the debate still rage.