Israel says owner of James ossuary may not be owner after all
Tel Aviv newspaper Ha'aretz has finally revealed the owner of the James ossuary, the oldest extra-textual evidence of Jesus' existence. Oded Golan is a 51-year-old Tel Aviv engineer who apparently works for Lucent Technologies—or at least did in 1998 (after five gajillion rounds of layoffs, no one works for Lucent anymore).

But wait. He may not be the owner after all. Ha'aretz reports that mere hours before Biblical Archaeology Review held its press conference to announce the discovery of the bone box, the Tel Aviv police brought Golan in for questioning. "Investigators at the Antiquities Authority suspect that Golan illegally acquired this artifact, which actually belongs to the state," reports Ha'aretz's Sara Leibovich-Dar.

According to the Antiquities Law, any artifacts found in Israel after 1978 (when the law was created—and when Golan was only 16 years old) are state property. That's a problem, since Biblical Archaeology Review editor Hershel Shanks has been telling folks (including Christianity Today) that Golan "got it from an Arab antiquities dealer" about 15 years ago.

"I was confused," Shanks explains to the Toronto Globe and Mail, which runs the controversy on its front page today. When the author of the BAR article asked, "How long has it been here?" Golan answered, 15 or 16 years. But what he didn't say was that the ossuary had been in the apartment of his parents for at least 10 years before that.

The Antiquities Authority, however, told Ha'aretz that it received information that Golan bought the ossuary only a few months ago.

Simcha Jacobovici, who is making a film about the James ossuary, tells the Globe and Mail that the Antiquities Authority is "playing ...