The unearthing of an ossuary from a private collection in Israel may be the first archeological proof that Jesus (Yeshua) physically existed. The inscription on the side of the box, written in Aramaic, reads: ‘James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus’. Theyblinked linked to the story in the NYTimes. There ’s an additional one on the Discovery site.
There’s another lively discussion about this on Metafilter, with plenty of good information being thrown around. Having a strong philosophical kinship with the scholars involved with the Jesus Seminar (belief in the historical Jesus), I am not surprised at this find, should it prove to be authentic. It lends no further support, however, to the other rich mythology that surrounds the man. That he physically existed, of that I have no doubt. That he is what others claim is simply a matter for faith to decide and not for science to prove.
