About The Lost Tomb of Jesus

The upcoming Discovery Channel program The Lost Tomb of Jesus has occasioned a number of inquiries. The claims made in the program have already been roundly denounced by biblical scholars and archaeologists, by no means all of them Christian. They have also been the subject of serious scrutiny in the secular media. The following information prepared by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Office of Media Relations and Catholic News Service addresses some of the principal assertions in the program.

CLAIM: The filmmakers suggest they have discovered something new, a tomb that was the burial site of Jesus and his family.

FACT: The tomb was discovered nearly 30 years ago in Jerusalem. The Israeli archaeologist who wrote the original excavation report on the site calls the claim "nonsense."

"In their movie they are billing it as 'never before reported information' but it is not new," said Amos Kloner, professor of archaeology at Bar-llan University in Israel. "I published all the details in...1996, and I didn't say it was the tomb of Jesus' family."

Dominican Father Jerome Murphy-O'Connor, a biblical archaeologist and expert in the New Testament at the French Biblical and Archaeological School in Jerusalem, who was interviewed for the film, said Kloner had written about the findings a decade ago, and though it was all out in the public domain, nobody had been interested. "It's a commercial ploy that all the media is playing into," Father Murphy-O'Connor said.

CLAIM: The filmmakers claim that by using new technology and DNA studies they have determined that among the 10 ossuaries --- burial boxes used in biblical times to house the bones of the dead which were found in the cave in 1980 --- are the ossuaries of Jesus, his brothers, Mary, another Mary whom they say is Mary Magdalene, and "Judah, son of Jesus."

FACT: The names found on the ossuaries "are a combination of very common names," according to Fr. Murphy-O'Connor. "Fifty percent of all Jewish women in the first century were called either Mary or Salome. It doesn't mean much at all. You can prove anything with statistics." Fr. Murphy-O'Connor said the DNA tests could "only prove that they are human" but "certainly did not prove any familial connection."

CLAIM: The filmmakers claim the ossuaries were not identified as belonging to Jesus' family when they were first discovered because present day knowledge and scientific tools were not available.

FACT: Jesus' family was from Galilee and had no ties to Jerusalem, casting serious doubt that they would have had a burial cave in Jerusalem. Kloner said the names on the ossuaries were common during that time and their presence in the tomb was coincidental.

CLAIM: The filmmakers say the so-called "James Ossuary," which came to public attention

several years ago and was purported by its owner, Oded Golan, to have belonged to the brother of Jesus, was also from the tomb, and that a forensic technique was used to determine this.

FACT: In 2003 the Israel Antiquities Authority declared the inscription on the James ossuary a forgery. Golan is currently on trial for forging the inscription.