Several scholars who appeared in the documentary The Lost Tomb of Jesus — which purported that a tomb found in a Jerusalem suburb was that of Jesus of Nazareth — have backtracked on their claims, according to a report in the Jerusalem Post.

The controversy comes two months after the documentary, produced by Canada's James Cameron and shot by Toronto filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici, aired on the Discovery Channel.

The documentary explored the theory that a tomb in the suburb of Talpiot is that of Jesus of Nazareth and his family, including his mother, a wife who filmmakers believe to be Mary Magdalene and a son.

The documentary prompted criticism from both a leading Israeli archeologist involved in the original dig, and from Christian leaders who said it contradicts the story of Jesus's resurrection documented in the New Testament.

In a report on April 10, the Jerusalem Post quotes a paper, Cracks in the Foundation: How the Lost Tomb of Jesus story is losing its scholarly support by Stephen Pfann of the University of the Holy Land in Jerusalem.

The paper claims that several of the experts who appear in Jacobovici's film are backing away from their claims.

Among the experts is University of Toronto statistician Prof. Andrey Feuerverger, who appears to say in the film the odds were 600:1 that the burial site was that of the Biblical Jesus.

Feuerverger now says the odds referred to the probability of a cluster of the names — Mary, Jesus, son of Joseph and another Mary, appearing together.

Discovery Channel's website on the Lost Tomb of Jesus has been altered to reflect Feuerverger's position more accurately.

Pfann reports that Israeli archeologists have said that the similarity of the names found inscribed on the ossuaries to the members of Jesus's family was coincidental, since many of those names were commonplace in the first century.

There is also a dispute over an inscription on the ossuary that the film had purported was that of Mary Magdalene.

A specialist in ancient text, Prof. François Bovon, who appears in the film, says the ossuary inscription "Mariamne" does not, in his opinion, stand for Mary of Magdalene at all.

Shimon Gibson, the Israeli archeologist who excavated the tomb 25 years ago, also distanced himself from the claim the tomb was that of Jesus and his family.

"Personally, I'm skeptical that this is the tomb of Jesus and I made this point very clear to the filmmakers," Gibson is quoted as saying in Pfann's report.

"We need much more evidence before we can say that the Talpiot tomb might be the family tomb of Jesus," he added.

The tomb was excavated to make way for an apartment building and the ossuaries have been in storage ever since.