Expert: Brenda Martin - 9/24/2006

Question
I thought that the ossuary of James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus...

wait let me rephrase this.  I thought that there were only about three James son of Josephs brothers of Jesus back in the day...but you say twenty?

And the bones discovered of Caiaphus were how many years old...60?  I wonder how they seperate the age of the bones in relation to how long theyve been sitting around...and the age of the bones in relation to how old the person was when death occured.  Obviously youre talking about how old the high priest was when he died, but I find it interesting that they can speculate on both ages probably by just looking at the bones and even without looking at the ossuary....because they have to be able to do that to some extent if they were going to just ignore the aging of the bones over the years in the ossuary and then just view the approximate age of death.

Do you see what Im saying?  Do bones not age extensively after death...or did the ossuary preserve them and so that's how they know the age of death...?  

Answer
"I THOUGHT THAT THERE WERE ONLY ABOUT THREE JAMES SON OF JOSEPHS BROTHERS OF JESUS BACK IN THE DAY...BUT YOU SAY TWENTY?"

I quote--- Lemaire estimates: “In Jerusalem during the two generations before 70 C.E., there were . . . probably about 20 people who could be called ‘James/Jacob son of Joseph brother of Jesus.’”

Nevertheless, he feels that there is a 90-percent chance that the James on the ossuary was the half brother of Jesus Christ.

André Lemaire is an authority on ancient inscriptions and the writer of the article in Biblical Archaeology Review.

THE BONES DISCOVERED OF CAIAPHUS WERE HOW MANY YEARS OLD...60?

“One ossuary contained the bones of a man about 60 years old. Scholars speculate that these actually are the bones of Caiaphas.”

So it’s not saying; the bones were only 60 years old, they were saying; the bones were of a man who died at age 60.

DO BONES NOT AGE EXTENSIVELY AFTER DEATH...OR DID THE OSSUARY PRESERVE THEM AND SO THAT'S HOW THEY KNOW THE AGE OF DEATH...?

I really don’t know.

All the best
Brenda