Patina “fingerprinting” is the idea of scanning patina samples on stone surfaces, in this case samples from ossuaries taken at random from a dozen tombs from various locations in the Jerusalem area, with an electron microscope to reveal a chemical spectrum/measurement of elements such as magnesium, aluminum, phosphorus, potassium, titanium and iron. This is a new technique and preliminary results indicated the following:

The Talpiot Jesus ossuary, as expected, provided a close “echo” or correspondence to the patina spectrums taken from the surface walls of the tomb itself, as well as the other Talpiot ossuaries. The spikes and peaks of mineral accretion levels were very similar, just as one might expect from stone exposed to the same conditions over 2000 years. Ossuaries from the other tombs were then similarly tested with preference given to samples that seemed to be a close match visually, in terms of color, to the Talpiot ossuaries, but in no case did the spectrum or chemical pattern come close to that of the Talpiot tomb and its ossuaries. Patina samples were then taken from the 2002 ossuary owned by Oded Golan inscribed “James son of Joseph, brother of Jesus,” which is quite similar in size and shape to the Jesus ossuary but different in visual color. The chemical spectrum of the James ossuary strongly “echoed” those of the Talpiot wall surfaces and its ossuaries, whereas no other ossuaries from other tombs chosen at random approached any type of correspondence at all. These tests indicated that color or “visual” comparisons of ossuary patina can be misleading, in other words, what you can’t see is more important than what you can see.

These results appear to indicate that the James ossuary came from an environment such as that of the Talpiot tomb or one that was strikingly similar. These tests are preliminary and more samples are now being tested with the goal of assembling a data base of 100 ossuaries from diverse locations in the Jerusalem area. Both inorganic and organic accretions are measured.

Other tests are also underway that have to do with comparisons of the style, shape, size and stone cutting marks, pertaining to the Jesus and James ossuaries. So far they appear to match up rather well. The Jesus ossuary is 65 x 26 x 30 while the James ossuary is 57.5 x 26 x 30. Whether one can infer anything about the height of the deceased individual(s) from the length of the ossuary is unlikely, except in the case of a much smaller ossuary clearly intended for a child. In other words, individuals with short femur bones have been found in ossuaries of greater than average length, and vis-a-versa, longer femur bones have been found angled in ossuaries of less than average length.

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