Is This Jesus' Tomb? Israeli Scientists Claim They've Found 'Virtually Unequivocal Evidence' of Jesus' Tomb

An Israeli scientist has claimed that he has found "virtually unequivocal evidence" on the location of Jesus Christ's final resting place.

Dr. Aryeh Shimron, a geologist in Jerusalem, said his findings could help explain the whereabouts of Jesus' remains that could lead to the rekindling of a controversial subject matter, The Independent reported on Tuesday.

Shimron said he carried out new tests that indicate Jesus' remains were more likely placed in the Talpiot Tomb, a burial site found in East Jerusalem in 1980. It was said to be a family grave for Jesus, his wife Mary Magdalene, and son Judah.

It had nine burial boxes or "ossuaries" marked with the names "Jesus son of Joseph," "Mary," and other names found in the New Testament.

The chamber was labelled as "The Lost Tomb of Jesus" in a James Cameron documentary in 2007. The documentary claimed that the inscriptions and the estimated dates of burial suggest that Jesus had a spouse and was the father of a child, and that he had existing bodily remains, meaning the Resurrection could never have happened.

The claims made in the documentary film were opposed by various Christian groups for varied reasons at the time of its broadcast. Some argued that the names on the inscriptions were relatively common at the time.

Shimron, however, stood firm and told the New York Times that the geochemical tests on a 10th ossuary suggest that it was highly likely that the box was recently removed from among the others in the Talpiot Tomb. This is crucial as the 10th ossuary reads in Aramaic "James son of Joseph brother of Jesus," strengthening the claims that the names were those of Jesus and his family.

"The evidence is beyond what I expected," Dr. Shimron said. "I think I've got really powerful, virtually unequivocal evidence that the James ossuary spent most of its lifetime, or death time, in the Talpiot Tomb."

The ossuaries in the Talpiot Tomb were all covered by the same clay with a distinct mineral make-up when they were discovered. This discovery was made possible through the geochemical tests carried out mostly by the Israel Antiquities Authority, under Shimron's supervision.

The results are likely to revive the debate over Jesus' remains and family.

However, this new finding is still far from being accepted in scientific circles, with archaeologists in Jerusalem still waiting for its publication in a peer-reviewed journal.

Oded Golan, the collector who owns the James ossuary, told the Times that Shrimron's work does not determine anything conclusively. For one, he bought the ossuary in 1976, while the Talpiot Tomb was excavated in 1980.

He also said the James ossuary could have come from another tomb in East Talpiot.