Lost tomb of Jesus found? Geologist has 'powerful' evidence linked to Christ's supposed grave

It reads like the plot of the The Da Vinci Code.

A geologist claims to have 'powerful' evidence about the tomb where Jesus Christ was supposedly buried - with his wife and son.

According to the theory, the bones of Jesus, his wife Mary Magdalene and son Judah were buried in stone chests called ossuaries under the streets of Jerusalem.

A tomb was discovered in 1980 which was said to have contained 10 ossuaries, inscribed with 'Jesus son of Joseph', 'Mary' and other New Testament names.

The so-called Talpiot tomb sparked decades of debate, a 2007 film by Titanic director James Cameron and complaints that the inscriptions were forged.

Of all the claims of forgery, the most heated was over a stone chest called the James ossuary.

It bore the message 'James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus', but the Israel Antiquities Authority ruled the last part of the message was a fake.

That ruling was overturned in 2012, but the seven-year trial brought historians no closer to knowing for sure if the message was real.

The James ossuary was missing from the Talpiot tomb when it was unearthed in 1980, so enthusiasts were always desperate to prove it had once been inside.

That, they said, would give more weight to claims the cave had held Jesus' bones.

Now geologist Aryeh Shimron thinks he has proven the tomb once held the disputed chest.

The 79-year-old studied the ossuary to compare traces of soil on its surface with the type of earth that was inside the Talpiot Tomb.

He told the New York Times a specific type of soil called rendzina had been found in both places - allowing him to link the two together.

There were more elements analysed in depth which provided a 'geochemical match'.

"I think I’ve got really powerful, virtually unequivocal evidence that the James ossuary spent most of its lifetime, or death time, in the Talpiot Tomb,” he said.

"The evidence is beyond what I expected."

The claims are still doubted by many, including Christians who follow the more orthodox view that Jesus never married or had children.

And even the James ossuary's owner Oded Golan isn't sure about the claims, despite what they'd do to the value of his stone box.

He told the New York Times he'd want samples from at least '200 to 300 caves' to prove the matching-up wasn't a fluke.




CREDIT: mirro