JERUSALEM, Nov. 7 — Breaking his silence, the reclusive owner of an ancient burial box said Thursday he will never sell what may be the oldest archaeological link to Jesus, but that he is willing to have it exhibited in Israel. The inscription on the limestone box, or ossuary, reads “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus,” leading some scholars to believe it contained the remains of James, the brother of Jesus of Nazareth. Others have said it might be a forgery, or that it might have been the burial box of a different James, unrelated to Jesus Christ.

THE EXISTENCE OF THE OSSUARY was revealed last month at a news conference in Washington by the Biblical Archaeology Review. At the time, the editor of the magazine, Hershel Shanks, said the owner insisted on not being identified.
The owner, Oded Golan, a 51-year-old engineer from Tel Aviv, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Thursday that he had refused to come forward until now because he is a very private man. “It’s a character issue. I don’t like publicity,” he said.
Golan said he agreed to a limited number of interviews after an Israeli daily published his name this week.
Golan has been questioned by inspectors from the Israel Antiquities Authority who wanted to know more about the origin of the ossuary, both to help with the scientific inquiry and to determine whether laws had been broken.
Golan insisted Thursday that he bought the James ossuary in the mid-1970s from an antiquities dealer in the Old City of Jerusalem for about $200 and that he cannot remember the dealer’s name. “I had three ossuaries in those years, and I don’t remember who I bought each one from,” he said.

UNDER INVESTIGATION
However, antiquities inspectors, who have questioned several Old City dealers, are also checking suspicions that Golan bought the ossuary only a few months ago. In such a case, those involved in the sale could be prosecuted for dealing in stolen goods, said Amir Ganor, head of the anti-robbery unit in the Antiquities Authority.
Israel’s antiquities law was passed in 1978, and it would be difficult to prosecute transactions made before then. The law itself is somewhat murky, allowing a private trade in antiquities even now, despite the likelihood that most artifacts reaching dealers would necessarily come from robbers.
Golan said he did not remember the exact year he bought the ossuary. He said he was certain that by 1976, when he got an engineering degree from Israel’s Technion Institute, it was already in his possession.
Advertisement

Golan’s father, Eliezer, said the box was stored on the balcony of the family’s Tel Aviv apartment for years, and that his son took it with him when he got his own place 15 years ago.
Shanks told last month’s news conference the collector bought the ossuary 15 years ago. Trying to explain the contradiction, Golan said Shanks apparently misunderstood when he told him the ossuary had been stored in his apartment for 15 years.
Golan said he was unaware of the potential importance of the find because he knows little about Christian tradition. “I certainly didn’t tie it to the family of Jesus of Nazareth,” he said.
Golan said several months ago, he invited French scholar Andre Lemaire to his apartment to examine a different ossuary in his collection, and that at the time, Lemaire also took a look at the James ossuary. Golan said he has one of the largest private antiquities collections in the world and that he owns dozens of burial boxes.

Cracks that developed in transit from Israel to Canada are shown running through the ossuary's inscription in this photo taken in Toronto on Oct. 31.


BOX TO RETURN TO ISRAEL
The ossuary is to go on display, starting Nov. 16, at the Royal Ontario Museum.
It was cracked in several places in transit to Canada, with one crack running through the inscription. Museum officials in Toronto have said the ossuary was damaged because its packing fell short of the standard, which involves double wooden crates separated by stiff materials.
Golan said an experienced packing company wrapped the ossuary with many layers of bubble wrap and a special type of paper. “Then the ossuary was placed in a small box of cardboard that is hard, but flexible, and then it was placed in a larger carton,” Golan said.

The Antiquities Authority, which had issued a temporary export permit, insisted the ossuary be back in Israel by the end of February. At that time, it will be more thoroughly investigated by Israeli experts.
Golan said he has no plans to return the ossuary to his apartment because it would cost too much to insure. However, he said, he would not sell it. “This is part of my collection,” he said.
“It (the box) can sit in a safe, or in a museum that will do the insurance, or in another protected place that is open to the public,” he said, adding that the artifact would have to remain in Israel.
Ganor, the antiquities inspector, said that if it turned out the ossuary was traded recently, it could be seized by the authorities.