The Jesus Discovery

The book discusses two tombs, the Patio Tomb and the Garden Tomb which, the author believes, contain the skeletal remains of Jesus, Mary and other members of his family. Jude son of Jesus is skeletal find.

The book discusses how bones were put into an ossuary, a stone box. The book goes into detail how how bodies were put into tombs, how they underwent natural decay and how the bones were then gathered up and put into the stone structures, sometimes with the name of the person on the outside.

The persons that could have been put into a Jesus burial tomb included Jesus, Joseph, Mary (his mother), his brothers (James, Joses, Simon and Judas) and his sisters (Salome and Mary), Mary Magdalene (his wife) and any sons and daughters they might have had.

This is not saying they were all buried there but they are the reasonable possibilities for persons being buried in the Jesus tomb.

What is the most interesting material in the book, though, is the process of how tombs are found and how they are explored. Some can be entered by an archaeologist but some can only be accessed by using a remote-control camera down a shaft. There can also be a problem with ultra-orthodox Jews who object to anyone going into a tomb, and conservative Christians who are utterly opposed to any archaeologist who says they have found the remains of Jesus and his relatives including any hint of a marriage with Mary Magdalene.

There is also a good bit about the various scientific tests that are done on anything found to determine just what it is and who it might have been used for.

The book also adds how the Jewish government gets involved in any explorations and how they can confiscate anything found. It also covers how there is a huge warehouse full of such burial boxes.

Whether or not a person accepts the author's contention that the bones of Jesus and others have been found the book still is fascinating as to the archaeological explorations are carried out, the tests that are done and problems that can be encountered with people opposing any such digs.


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