Lost Tomb Controversy

By Neil Earle

In 1980 outside Jerusalem in the area of Talipot a tomb was uncovered with nine ossuaries (bone boxes) inside. The inscriptions were genuine and led to a Discovery Channel special on February 25, 2007.

The claim was made that inscriptions such as “Jesus son of Joseph” and “Mary” found on the boxes mark this as the family tomb of Jesus. In the light of the fact that a “James ossuary” was found recently with the marking “James son of Joseph,” which has support from some Christian scholars, filmmakers have now claimed that the Talipot discovery was the authentic burial spot of Jesus. However, there are ten points that argue against this conclusion.

  1. Prof. Amos Klosner, the archaeologist who made the original 1980 discovery, totally denies the claim that this was the family tomb of Jesus of Nazareth.
  2. Estimates are that in First Century Judaea, 21% of Jewish women and 22% of Jewish men had the names “Mary” and “Jesus.” This paradoxically argues for Gospel authenticity since the number of “Marys” in the Gospels can be confusing.
  3. Filmmakers used the DNA evidence selectively. They simply tried to show that the “Miriam” box contained bones not related to the “Jesus” box and that therefore those two could have been husband and wife. DNA evidence can be altered by outside handling – sometimes 1/6 of the samples get contaminated.
  4. Sean Pfann of the University of the Holy Land reported to Anderson Cooper on March 13, 2007 that many other bones were found in the boxes for which we have no name. This throws doubts over the whole claim.
  5. The attempt to link the “Mariamne” box with Mary Magdalene led the filmmakers down the same path as Da Vinci Code researchers – trawling once again through the Gnostic or Doubted Writings of the later centuries.
  6. Church historians such as Eusebius connect Mary, Jesus’ mother, to Ephesus in Asia Minor which sets up other problems.
  7. Jerusalem itself was the hotbed of anti-Christian activity. Why gather the Jesus Family there?
  8. Tomb space in Jerusalem was very expensive, as adduced from the Gospel record of Joseph of Arimathea, a rich man, giving the crucified Jesus his tomb (Luke 23:50-54).
  9. “Jesus, son of Joseph” is an expression never used in the Gospels.
  10. Jesus’ tomb has always been in dispute because Christians believe he was not there – he was resurrected. The tombs of Lenin, Mao, Gen. Grant, Mohammed, etc. are precisely located because that’s where they are buried.

(For further information check out Ben Witherington’s blogspot.)

Neil Earle
626-256-4919
neil.earle@gci.org