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Canadian claims to have found Jesus' lost tomb

A Canadian filmmaker and author claims to have new scientific evidence that could have profound implications for Christianity.


Simcha Jacobovici, from Toronto, is expected to reveal at a news conference in New York on Monday that a tomb he explored under a Jerusalem apartment building once contained the bones of Jesus of Nazareth and his family.

Further, he suggested that the tomb, stored in a warehouse belonging to the Israel Antiquity Authority outside Jerusalem, may contain microscopic remains of the Christian saviour's DNA.

If so, this would be the first archaeological evidence of the existence of Jesus -- and his family.

"It's mind boggling. It's an altered reality," Jacobovici told the Toronto Star newspaper ahead of the release of his feature documentary film and book, both titled "The Lost Tomb of Jesus."

"You have to kind of pinch yourself," he said. "Are we really saying what we are saying?"

Jacobovici is presenting all of his evidence in his film and book, which focus on six ossuaries discovered in March 1980. They were found in a 2,000-year-old cave that was discovered when workers were excavating land for a housing development south of Jerusalem.

The boxes were inscribed with the names: Jesus son of Joseph, Judah son of Jesus, Maria, Mariamne, Joseph and Matthew. Another inscription, written in Aramaic, translates to "Judah Son of Jesus."

The inscriptions did not raise many alarms when they were discovered, as they were common names at the time of Jesus.

But Jacobovici asks in his film and book what the likelihood is that this particular group of names, contained in the same family tomb, would appear together?

"There are really only two possibilities," Jacobovici told The Globe and Mail. "Either this cluster of names represents the tomb of Jesus of Nazareth and his family. Or some other family, with this very same constellation of names, existed at precisely the same time in history in Jerusalem."

University of Toronto mathematician Dr. Andrey Feuerverger calculated the odds at one in 600; while Dr. James Tabor, chair of the department of religion at the University of North Carolina, placed the odds at one in 42 million.

"If you took the entire population of Jerusalem at the time and put it in a stadium, and asked everyone named Jesus to stand up, you'd have about 2,700 men," Tabor said. "Then you'd ask only those with a father named Joseph and a mother named Mary to remain standing. And then those with a brother named Yose and a brother named James. Statistically, you end up with one person."

Jacobovici assures devout Christians that there is nothing in his documentary or book that should offend them, since he doesn't argue against Jesus' ascension to heaven.

But his claims could be an issue for those who believe Jesus ascended, both physically and spiritually, to heaven 40 days after his resurrection.

Further, it would question the doctrine of the Virgin Birth if DNA testing were to link Jesus and Joseph with Mary.

According to Jewish custom, the bones have long since been reburied in unmarked graves in Israel. But tests conducted at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ont., on DNA obtained from the Jesus and Mary tomb and show that the two individuals were not maternally related.

Dr. Carney Matheson, the university lab's head, said this likely means they were related by marriage.

Jacobovici's $4-million documentary was executive-produced by Oscar-winning filmmaker James Cameron.

"It doesn't get bigger than this. We've done our homework; we've made the case; and now it's time for the debate to begin," Cameron said in a news release.

The film will air March 6 on Canada's Vision TV, and later next month on Discovery U.S. and Britain's Channel 4.

The Jesus Family Tomb, a companion book by Jacobovici and Dr. Charles Pellegrino, has just been released.

Jacobovici and Cameron are expected to hold a press conference Monday morning at the New York Public Library, with the Jesus and Mary ossuaries which were flown in from Israel on display.

With files from The Globe and Mail and Toronto Star