Clergymen have joined archaeologists in the Holy land in ridiculing claims in a new 'Hollywood' documentary from Oscar-winning director James Cameron that the bones of Jesus and his family have been discovered in a tomb found in 1980.
The documentary, 'The Lost Tomb of Christ', will air on the Discovery Channel on 4th March, and will argue that 10 ancient ossuaries - small caskets used to store bones - discovered in a suburb of Jerusalem in 1980 may have contained the bones of Jesus and his family.Cameron's documentary will explain that one casket has engraved on its side "Judah, son of Jesus', indicating that Jesus had a son. This claim would be a complete contradiction of the Christian faith that Jesus resurrected and ascended to heaven.
A majority of Christians believe that Jesus' body was placed for three days in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem's Old City, however, Cameron's documentary focuses on a burial site in a southern Jerusalem neighbourhood far away from the church.
Following the tombs discovery in 1980, the BBC filmed a short documentary in 1996 on the same issue. However, archaeologists rebuked the claims as a publicity stunt to bring more profitability to the television.
Amos Kloner, the first archaeologist to examine the site, said the idea fails to hold up by archaeological standards but for sure makes an exciting story for TV.
"They just want to get money for it," Kloner said.
Attallah Hana, a Greek Orthodox clergyman in Jerusalem, joined the calls ridiculing the latest documentary on the matter, saying: "The historical, religious and archaeological evidence show that the place where Christ was buried is the Church of the Resurrection." The documentary, he said, "contradicts the religious principles and the historic and spiritual principles that we hold tightly to."
Stephen Pfann, a biblical scholar at the University of the Holy Land in Jerusalem was interviewed in the documentary. He explained that the film's hypothesis holds little weight.
Pfann said: "I don't think that Christians are going to buy into this. But skeptics, in general, would like to see something that pokes holes into the story that so many people hold dear."
"How possible is it?" Pfann said. "On a scale of one through 10 - 10 being completely possible - it's probably a one, maybe a one and a half."
Pfann even disputes the accuracy of the core facts promoted in the documentary. For instance he said that it was unsure that the name on the caskets, being promoted in the documentary as "Jesus", were even read correctly. He says the indications are that it is more likely the name said "Hanun."
Kloner agreed that the filmmakers' assertions are false, according to AP.
"It was an ordinary middle-class Jerusalem burial cave," Kloner said. "The names on the caskets are the most common names found among Jews at the time."
Archaeologists also refuse to entertain the filmmaker's claim that the James Ossuary - the centre of a famous antiquities fraud in Israel - might have originated from the same cave. Israel charged 5 suspects with forgery in connection with the infamous bone box in just 2005.
Dan Bahat, an archaeologist at Bar-Ilan University, said: "I don't think the James Ossuary came from the same cave. If it were found there, the man who made the forgery would have taken something better. He would have taken Jesus."
In addition, various commentators are rebuking the documentary makers for claiming to have found the tomb of Jesus, simply for the fact that the tomb was already promoted on the BBC documentary 11 years ago.
