The James Ossuary Not A Forgery

I've been following the saga of the James Ossuary since 2002. An ossuary is a bone box.  This one is from the first century and has the inscription, “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus.”  What an exciting find!  But through zealous efforts of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA)   the inscription was declared a forgery.

Most of the media immediately dismissed the James Ossuary as a forgery and not a real artifact connected to the brother of Jesus (Actually there could be another James who's father was Joseph and brother Jesus from the first century.  However, it is very unusual for an ossuary to have an inscription, "the brother of.) The whole event was soon forgotten.
However, as the five year forgery trial progressed, it became clear that there was more happening here than the media had assumed. Today the Biblical Archeology Society website reports that the defendants have been cleared of forgery charges!!!
The defendents were also cleared of forgery charges involving the Jehoash tablet (the text is similar to the biblical description of repairs to Solomon’s Temple by King Yehoash in the 9th century B.C. and possibly could have hung in Solomon's Temple) and the ivory pomegranate (Possibly the head of a small priestly scepter from Solomon’s Temple).

Indeed these are exciting times.

Here is the headline:

VERDICT: NOT GUILTY

Two Remaining Defendants Cleared of Forgery Charges After 5-year Trial

Hershel Shanks   •  03/14/2012

After a trial of more than five years with 138 witnesses, more than 400 exhibits and a trial transcript of 12,000 pages, Judge Aharon Farkash of the Jerusalem District Court has cleared the defendants of all forgery charges. His opinion in the case, handed down on March 14, is 474 pages long.

You can read the entire article here.