An Israeli antiquities collector has been cleared of forgery after a 10 year investigation. The limestone burial box you see above is inscribed with the earliest known reference to Jesus. And it is the real deal.

Skeptics weren't too sure about the authenticity of the box, claiming that Oded Golan had forged the mention of Jesus. He was arrested and charged with forgery. Now he's being cleared of those charges after a thorough analysis of the artifact. He plans to put it on display in Israel. It was last seen in public in 2002.

Chiselled on the side are the words, "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus." The inscription is written in Jewish script and was done using a sharp instrument.

The Guardian explains:
James the Just was the first leader of the Christians in Jerusalem after the Crucifixion. He was executed for apostasy by the local rabbinical court.

At that time, Jews were not buried but laid in a cave. The bones were collected after a year and placed in an ossuary. Thousands have been discovered, some of them inscribed with names to identify whose bones they contain. One other ossuary mentions a brother.

"This is the oldest evidence that mentions the name of Jesus Christ," said Golan, who bought the box in the 1970s but did not realise its significance until Sorbonne professor Andre Lemaire noticed it in Golan's collection. Lemaire published his findings in 2002 and the ossuary was briefly displayed at a Toronto museum, causing a worldwide sensation.
Some experts still think this is not legit, but if true, it is a very rare piece of physical evidence of Jesus and his family.