Posted on 11/30/2010 8:59:07 PM PST by SunkenCiv
...Using sophisticated computer programs, Cargill built what he described as "a fully reconstructed, three-dimensional, real time, interactive model of Khirbet Qumran."
Taking the building's excavated remains as a blueprint, the model "visualized" that the structure was originally designed as a fortress, then abandoned, and later expanded and repurposed by a group... According to the model, the new inhabitants built an elaborate water system, as well as a scriptorium, where the scrolls were written. The building was destroyed in 70 C.E., or shortly thereafter, by the conquering Roman legions, a view now widely accepted...
In early 2007, Cargill was nearing completion of a virtual reality film on Qumran as his doctoral dissertation and as part of an upcoming Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit at the San Diego Natural History Museum.
Then something strange happened. Cargill and the San Diego museum began noticing a rash of posts on Internet blogs and message boards, under different names, all attacking the exhibit and Cargill's film for "misleading the public" by omitting Golb's alternate theory.
Over the next two years, the posts escalated in volume and harshness. "At UCLA, all my departmental faculty, the provost and chancellor started getting e-mails, as did potential employers at other universities, attacking my qualifications to receive a Ph.D.," Cargill said in a phone interview.
What all the posts had in common was a defense of Golb's thesis against the deliberate "errors" of those who argued otherwise.
...investigators found their man in Raphael Haim Golb, a 50-year-old Manhattan lawyer with a Harvard doctorate in comparative literature -- and the son of Norman Golb.
The younger Golb was arrested in March 2009 on charges of engaging "in a systematic scheme on the Internet ... in order to influence and affect debate on the Dead Sea Scrolls."
(Excerpt) Read more at archnews.co.uk ...
I think that one of the problems is that Golb used 80 false identities to defame and economically damage the other guy.
>>Common era? what in the world does that mean?<<
It means “after Christ’s death”. I like to think of it as “AD”. :)
ML/NJ
I'm afraid I don't get this controversy.
"Common era" refers to the commonly used calendar start point.
Christians are a minority of the world's total population. I think we should be proud the entire world uses the (approximate) date of Christ's birth as its "common era" regardless of what they call it. By doing so they implicitly recognize the overwhelming importance of this event in history.
AD stands for "anno domini," or "in the year of our Lord." It is not reasonable to expect those who do not recognize Christ as their Lord to use this term.
Nobody is stopping you from using AD if you choose.
BTW, you can read CE as “Christian Era” if it makes you feel better.
EXACTLY.
Very nice. I'll be doing that from now on!
When I read the rest of the article, I believe that 80 different on-line identities were used to slander and make suspect Cargill’s thesis. Read is yourself and let me know if I misunderstood.
I am one of the very few people on the net that uses his real name. This is quite troublesome if people are being prosecuted for saying something incorrect using on-line identities.
First of all how do you know this isn’t my real name? Secondly I am not using this or 79 other identities to hide behind a slander campaign against someone.
It is a fascinating subject.
This is most troublesome if we are held accounted for errors we make on the net.
the title says slander the article says errors.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.