Israeli scholars say genuine biblical burial box (AP)

Jerusalem-Israeli scholars have confirmed the authenticity of a burial box of 2,000 years that seems to bear the name of a relative of the high priest Caiaphas named in the New Testament, the Israel Antiquities Authority said Wednesday.

The finding offers support for the existence of Caiaphas, Biblical that appears in the New Testament as a priest of the temple and an opponent of Jesus who played a key role in his crucifixion.

The ossuary — a stone chest used to store the bones — is decorated with stylized shapes of flowers and bears an inscription with the name "Daughter of Miriam to Yeshua, son of Caiaphas, high priest of Maazou by Beth Imri."

The ossuary was seized by robbers grave three years ago, the Government's Antiquities body said in a statement. It "was not found in a controlled archaeological excavation and because of its special scientific significance," the statement said, it is being tested in the laboratory, since then.

The evidence, that powerful microscopes used for inspecting layers of accumulation on the box and the inscription, were made by two experts, one from Tel Aviv University and the other from Bar Ilan University, the statement said. Research has shown that the inscription is "genuine and ancient".

Careful tests were necessary because counterfeiting is common in the world of biblical artifacts, where a brisk black market exists and where antiquities linked somehow to the Bible may recover millions of dollars.

Similar — an ossuary bearing the inscription "James Son of Joseph brother of Jesus" — is currently at the center of an ongoing fraud in Israel.

The ossuary was exposed to widespread acclaim as the only known archaeological link to Jesus, but laboratory tests run by the Israeli Antiquities Authority indicated that the inscription was false. A collector Israeli was accused of forging the ossuary and other Biblical Antiquities and a verdict is pending. The collector says that the box is genuine.

Scholars believe that the ossuary Miriam was sacked from a tomb in the Valley of Elah, southwest of Jerusalem.

The word "Maazou" on the inscription refers to a subset of the priestly caste. Scholars believe "Beth imri" refers to a priestly family or village of origin.

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