1)
The first
part is correctly spelled. The second part is not correctly spelled. Depending
on how you chose to interpret certain letters of the second part, they are
either incorrectly done or the sentence is misspelled. Two letters – d
(dalet) in “brother of” and Y in
“Jesus” – are done incorrectly. And
even if you presuppose that the letters should be d and Y, the sentence is
grammatically wrong.
2)
To be able to
write in a straight line, one or two scribe lines were
often drawn, on the
top and the bottom respectively. The first part follows a straight line (apart
from the last letters, which correctly drops). If these imaginary scribe lines
are extended, the letters of the second part are below the lines.
3)
The letters
of the first half are of the same size, while the letters of the second half
differs from both the letters of the first half and each other.
4)
The letters
of the first part are correctly formed with straight lines and square corners,
while the letters of the second part often are curved.
5)
There are
wedges (serifs) on some of the letters of the first half (those that should
have) while there are no wedges on any letters of the second half (though
there should have been on some).
6)
“The
spacing of the first part … is extremely accurate. In Antiquity, texts were
written as-spoken. The first part is written correctly in sound-bites: iA cov
bAR io sEf and the second part is written in a continuous stream achoiiashoua.
7)
Not only is
the first correctly written, but it is also correctly stressed. The final pe
[in Joseph] drops because the voice drops at the end when the words are
spoken.” Rochelle Altman,
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/JesusMysteries/message/10439
8)
This final pe
is also extended. This is a “end of text”-marker, and it shows that the
original inscription said "James, son of Joseph”.
9)
The second
part (achwydyshwa) begins at the same height as the
last letter of the first inscription (yaqwvbrywsf). However, the last letter
of the first inscription was correctly lowered, as it would have been done.
And if the same person did the entire inscription at the same time, he (or she)
should have begun the achwydyshwa-inscription at the same height as the second
last letter of the first inscription.
The spelling was done something like
this: yaqwvbrywsfachwydyshwa
when
it should have been done something like this: yaqwvbrywsfachwydyshwa
“If this had been written at the same time. or even shortly after, the
starting stroke of the aleph would have been at the same height as the samekh,
bets, and the ayin-iod of Ya'acov. It is not. The starting stroke of the aleph
erroneously begins at the same height as the correctly lowered peh.”
Rochelle Altman,
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/JesusMysteries/message/10468
“The
script of the second part is a conglomeration of unrelated graphs from across
the centuries and not a coherent script design. This peculiar diversity
suggests that the writer chose graphs from examples on other ossuaries and
documents stored in a cave or dug out tomb.” Rochelle Altman, Final Report
on the James Ossuary,
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/ioudaios/articles/finalreport.html
“The
wedges also indicate that Jacob ben Josef lived and died during the age of
Herod.” Rochelle Altman, Final
Report on the James Ossuary, http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/ioudaios/articles/finalreport.html
According
to Rochelle Altman, the writer of the first part spoke fluid Aramaic and was
fully literate, while it is doubtful whether the writer of the second part
knew Aramaic at all.
