A new book on archaeological findings by a controversial pair has sparked wide media coverage but elicited skepticism from archaeologists, who have generally dismissed the new claim as not-new sensationalism. The Jesus Discovery: The New Archaeological Find that Reveals the Birth of Christianity by scholar James Tabor and filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici (Simon & Schuster) was published yesterday (Feb. 28). It argues that evidence from ossuaries (bone boxes) newly excavated from a previously unopened tomb under a Jerusalem condominium--near what has been called “the Jesus Family Tomb,” first excavated in 1980--revive the possibility they are related to the family of Jesus.
Once prepublication embargo was lifted, archaeologists used the blog of the American Schools of Oriental Research to repudiate the new claim. A 2008 book, The Jesus Family Tomb: The Evidence Behind the Discovery No One Wanted to Find by Jacobovici and Charles Pellegrino (HarperOne) got a similar reception from scholars. A film on the new discovery is set to air on the Discovery Channel this spring.
