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What is saddest about the James Ossuary case is that, if the police are correct, Oded Golan took an ancient object, important in itself as a link to a lost past, and vandalized it in the hope of increasing its financial value. Such trickery seeks to exploit a problem at the heart of biblical archaeology: the desire to prove what is essentially unverifiable. That archaeology reveals a fuller picture of the daily lives of ordinary people in the biblical world should be enough.

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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122446027022248721.html

Piltdown Man.

Hate to admit it but Bracy has a point.

That archaeology reveals a fuller picture of the daily lives of ordinary people in the biblical world should be enough.
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Agree. But I do have a piece of the cross I can sell you.

Thats also a problem in more fields of archaeology than just biblical. Nautical Archaeology has its share of treasure seekers who find ancient ships, dynamite them to get through the wood, and take the precious metals for profit. Or like in Japan, the archaeologist who was foraging his sites until discovered. Thankfully, most hoaxes are found out.

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Hate to admit it but Bracy has a point.

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no doubt. there are motivations to fake (or willfully misinterpret) artifacts in all sorts of archeology. I do think that there is a case to be made that the motivations may be stronger when religion is concerned.