The Museum of the Bible. Photo: Alan Karchmer.
Posted on 05/21/2020 7:18:16 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
The Museum of the Bible holds 16 fragments of reputed Dead Sea Scrolls in their collection. On Friday, March 13, 2020, a study revealed that all 16 of these are modern forgeries. Already in 2018, a different study had tested five of the 16 fragments and concluded that they were fakes. The new study -- which was conducted by Art Fraud Insights, led by the art fraud investigator Colette Loll, and funded by the Museum of the Bible -- analyzed all 16 fragments.
Through a series of physical and chemical tests, Loll and her team determined that the fragments had been deliberately manipulated to look ancient. The forgers had used old pieces of leather and written on them with ink in modern times. Using a microscope, the investigators were able to see pools of ink in cracks of the weathered leather, cracks that would not have been there when the leather was new. Additionally, they noted places where the ink overlaid the uneven mineral crust of the ancient leather. Had the fragment been written in ancient times, this would not be the case...
This report seems to settle things -- or does it?
Even after this thorough investigation, not everyone is entirely convinced. According to renowned biblical scholar Emanuel Tov, who served as editor-in-chief of the official International Dead Sea Scroll Publication team for two decades, in his mind these fragments have not all been proven to be fakes beyond doubt. Since similar tests have not been performed on authentic Dead Sea Scroll fragments and fragments of later texts from the Judean desert, a baseline for comparison hasn’t been established. As quoted in National Geographic, Emanuel Tov explains, “The report expects us to conclude that abnormalities abound without demonstrating what is normal.”
(Excerpt) Read more at biblicalarchaeology.org ...
The Museum of the Bible. Photo: Alan Karchmer.
Here’s the link to the NG story, there’s a short vid there as well, along with some images, one of which is linked below.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/2020/03/museum-of-the-bible-dead-sea-scrolls-forgeries/
I have no idea if this video link will work, until I try it here...
https://link.theplatform.com/s/ngs/media/guid/2423130747/00000170-d09f-d731-a97d-d09f3d300000
Hmm, seems to work, there are 20 or so seconds worth of other vid segments at the NG article.
Thanks for sharing very interesting!
Thanks for sharing very interesting!
Somebody got ripped-off.
I’m holding a valuable ancient Roman coin dated 24 C.E.
It would even more valuable had it been dated 24 BC.
I have some US stamps about that age. Stamp collecting is not popular now days so they lost some value from the premium price I paid.
Those “Lincoln” stamps from 1815 must be worth a fortune.
My Roman coin is stamped “Made in China”. I didn’t know that their empire stretched that far.
Wow! Thanks SunkenCiv!
My pleasure!
All great ideas, maybe I won't have to work as long 'til I retire after all.
Yeah, they got skinned. ;^)
Marco Polo prolly brought them back with him; along with some gun powder and some pasta.
ha! i’ve got a 1955 double-die ancient roman penny ...
“”16 fragments in their collection are fake””
And #17 that says “Drink your Ovaltine” appears to be a bit ‘iffy’ as well
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