By Årstein Justnes and Ludvik A. Kjeldsberg
2003
“Dead Sea Scrolls Fragment Will Be Publicly Displayed Outside A Museum for the First Time Ever.” PR Newswire, 26 June.
→ Isa 26:19–27:1 (no DSS F.–number) [dead link]
Davila, Jim. “Now Here’s Something Different.” PaleoJudaica.com, 26 June.
Smith, Samuel. “Seminary family gets rare glimpse at 2,200-year-old Dead Sea fragment.” Baptist Press, 25 July.
→ Isa 26:19–27:1 (no DSS F.–number)
Connole, Michele. “Professor from Israel speaks of ancient finds.” North Texas Daily Online Edition, 5 September.
→ “From Sept. 5 to Nov. 16, several of the original documents, including the Dead Sea Scrolls, copies of Genesis and Isaiah … will be on display” [“From the Dead Sea Scrolls to the Forbidden Book“].
Heinkel-Wolfe, Peggy. “Unearthing the Bible.” Star Telegram, 13 September.
→ About the “Dead Sea Scrolls to the Forbidden Book” exhibit.
→ “Noted archaeologist and scholar Hanan Eshel of Bar-Ilan University in Israel studied these fragments of the books of Genesis and Isaiah that are on display. In one fragment, Eshel believes he may have discovered an ancient commentary on Chapter 22 of Genesis [“Genesis Midrash”, no DSS F.–number] that contradicts the traditional interpretation of God ordering Abraham to sacrifice his son Issac. In other words, Eshel said, he now believes that God may not have asked Abraham to sacrifice his son. ‘God called Isaac “My son,” not “your son,” ’ Eshel said. ‘This is the first time we have found this distinction.’”
Davila, Jim. “Hanan Eshel Reports that He May Have Found a Qumran Text that Tells a Different Version of the Aqedah.” PaleoJudaica.com, 13 September.
Ross, Bobby. “Bible history exhibit drawing thousands in Dallas.” My Plainview, 18 September.
→ “The Dead Sea Scroll fragments, from Biondi’s personal collection, are broken apart and darkened so that they can be read only through infrared photography.”
2004
Herwald, Margi. “A window to the Dead Sea Scrolls.” Cleweland Jewish News, 26 February.
→ “eight Dead Sea Scroll fragments, including three with biblical text from Genesis and Isaiah”
→ “[Lee] Biondi recalls the first time he showed [Hanan] Eshel one of the scroll fragments in the exhibit; he immediately knew to which larger scroll in Israel it likely belonged.”
Jenkins, Colette M. “Ohio seminary to be home of scroll fragment.” Akron Beacon Journal, 4 March.
→ Ps 11:1–3 (no DSS F.–number)
“Art Dealer Donates Dead Sea Scroll Fragment to Ohio Seminary.” The Christian Post, 4 March.
→ Ps 11:1–3 (no DSS F.–number)
→ “The fragment was acquired by Ashland through partial donation from Bath Township art dealer Bruce Ferrini in memory of his son, Matthew. The acquisition marks the first time in history that an American theological seminary has added to its holdings a biblical fragment of the Dead Sea Scrolls. … Ferrini is the owner of the Dead Sea Scroll fragments and most of the ancient writings and manuscripts of the Old and New Testament that are part of the national exhibit. … During the past decade, Ferrini has helped Ashland with its collection of artifacts and manuscripts, known as the Ashland Project, which aims to build theological teaching collections of ancient artifacts and writings for seminaries around the country. The scroll fragment to be acquired by Ashland will be selected with the guidance of several prominent Israeli scholars associated with Ferrini and the touring exhibit.”
Jenkins, Colette M. “Akron exhibit draws back veil that surrounds scrolls.” Akron Beacon Journal, 15 March.
Davila, Jim. “More on the Akron Exhibition.” PaleoJudaica.com, 18 March.
→ Words from Genesis 22 (“Genesis Midrash”, no DSS F.–number)
Davila, Jim. “MORE SCANDAL BREWING for the From the Dead Sea Scrolls to the Forbidden Book exhibition in Akron Ohio.” PaleoJudaica.com, 17 April.
Rodgers, Ann. “Dead Sea Scrolls ‘fragments’ on exhibit.” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 23 May.
→ Isa 26:19–27:1 (no DSS F.–number)
Davila, Jim. “THE FROM THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS TO THE BIBLE IN AMERICA EXHIBITION is now in Pittsburg.” PaleoJudaica.com, 23 May.
Davila, Jim. “More 1 Enoch from the Qumran Library!” PaleoJudaica.com, 15 October.
→ 1 En. 8:4–9:3 (DSS F.125)
Davila, Jim. “News on the New 1 Enoch Fragment.” PaleoJudaica.com, 22 November.
→ 1 En. 8:4–9:3 (DSS F.125)
Ink and Blood Home: The Museum Exhibit of the Bible
→ Words from Genesis 22 / “Genesis Midrash”
→ Deut 19:13–15
→ Isa 24:16–17 & Isa 26:19–27:1(?)
→Jer 48:29–31 (DSS F.156)
Lampe, Joel. “Mysteries Of the Dead Sea Scrolls.” Vimeo (posted 15 June, 2017).
→ Ps 11:1–4 (DSS F.199)
→ Exod 17:4–7 (DSS F.192)
→ Instruction (DSS F. 202)
→ Unidentified/W 17
→ Gen 13:1–3
2005
Greene, Amanda. “Holy Words.” StarNews Online, 22 January.
→ tells the (fragmented) story of how Lee Biondi and other collectors bought their first “Dead Sea Scrolls” fragments and launched the traveling exhibit “The Dead Sea Scrolls to the Bible in America”.
→ comments from Biondi and James H. Charlesworth.
→ “Dr. Charlesworth explained that a few years ago, when the peace process in Israel broke down, tourism in that part of the world diminished drastically. ‘Now you have Arabs who have built these multi-million dollar huge hotels to show these antiquities to wealthy people, and they’re having to close their hotels’ and sell their scroll pieces, he said. … While he said putting the pieces on tours in America was good, Dr. Charlesworth is trying to get wealthy Americans to buy pieces of the scrolls and send them back to museums in Israel so they can be studied.”
Boyer, Robert. “Making Scrolls Accessible.” The Pilot, 16 March.
→ tells the (fragmented) story of how Lee Biondi bought his first “Dead Sea Scrolls” fragments.
→ “Biondi, an evangelical Christian, said he felt the ‘spiritual power of the material.’ He left Switzerland the following morning, without his precious cargo. It was handed over to German and Swiss scientists who used infrared photography and other means to authenticate the fragments. The scientists, along with two scholars in Israel, Professor Hanan Eshel, of Bar-Ilan University in Tel Aviv, and Professor Emile Puech, of Ecole Biblique Research Institute in Jerusalem, spent four months verifying that the fragments were part of the Scrolls.”
Davila, Jim. “Who Sold Them and How Did They Get Them?” Qumranica.com, 17 March.
Adams, Lee. “The Dead Sea Scrolls to the Bible in America.” 26 March. [Link unavailable]
→ “There are 11 fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls on display, including apiece less than one square inch that has text from the book of Psalms.”
Vos, Sarah. “Bits and Pieces of Early Bible Writings on Display: Some Question Evangelical Undertones.” Lexington Herald Leader, 24 June.
→ “Weston Fields, executive director of the Dead Sea Scrolls Foundation, which helps coordinate Israeli Antiquity Authority-approved exhibitions of the scrolls, calls exhibits like Ink & Blood misleading. ‘It’s not really being honest with the public to advertise these tiny little things as a Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit,’ Fields said, despite the fact that they are genuine.”
Davila, Jim. “Some Criticisms of the Ink and Blood Exhibition.” PaleoJudaica.com, 24 June.
“Bedouin Wanders across Biblical Manuscript.” abc.net, 15 July.
→ Lev 23:38–39 (ArugLev frg. a)
→ Lev 23:40–44, 24:16–19 (ArugLev frg. b-c)
“התגלתה מגילה גנוזה עם קטעים מספר ויקרא [A Hidden Scroll with Passages from the Book of Leviticus was Discovered].” Walla News, 15 July.
→ ArugLev
ידיעות אחרונות מדווח, כי באוגוסט 2004 נקרא פרופ’ חנן אשל, מהחוג לארכיאולוגיה באוניברסיטת בר אילן, להעריך מגילה לא ידועה. אשל סירב להעריך את מחירה, בטענה כי מגילה, בניגוד למטבעות או לחפצים, היא ממצא יחידאי. אנשי הקשר אישרו לאשל לצלם את המגילה ואחד מעוזריו החל במחקרה.
Cook, Edward M. “The New Scroll.” Ralph the Sacred River, 16 July.
→ “This scroll [ArugLev] is not very sexy (c’mon — Leviticus?), and therefore it is probably authentic.”
Williams, Tyler F. “Interview with Hanan Eshel about the Leviticus Fragments.” Codex Blogspot, 20 July.
→ “Based on his own physical inspection and other factors, Eshel is 110% certain they are not forgeries.”
Todd, W. K. “Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit coming.” The Pathway, 28 July.
→ ”’We have everything from some fragments of Exodus from the Dead Sea Scrolls to an excerpt from Paul’s letter to the Colossians,’ said co-curator Lee Biondi.”
Schutten, Henk. “Dead Sea Scrolls in the Trade.” July(?).
→ ”Biblical researchers are highly concerned about fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls which have recently appeared for sale on the market. Some of these fragments must have been smuggled from Israel to Holland.… The Israeli police have been investigating four fragments [Gen 13:1–3; “Genesis Midrash”; Isa 24:16–17 (X20); Isa 26:19–27:1 (X20)] which, in 2003, were offered for sale by a dealer at the Maastricht Art Fair, Tefaf.”
Cook, Edward M. “Scroll Matters.” Ralph the Sacred River, 31 July.
Williams, Tyler F. “New Picture of Leviticus Scroll Fragments.” Codex Blogspot, 29 July.
→ Early colour photo of Lev 23:38–39 (ArugLev frg. a); Lev 23:40–44, 24:16–19 (ArugLev frg. b-c), and ArugLev frg. d.
Williams, Tyler F. “Qumran Fragments on the Market? Discovery and Provenance of the Leviticus Fragments.” Three Things, 30 July.
→ Lev 23:38–39 (ArugLev frg. a)
→ Lev 23:40–44, 24:16–19 (ArugLev frg. b-c)
Williams, Tyler F. “Ancient Biblica Scroll Discovered in Israeli Cave.” Christian Week 19.11, 19 August.
Schutten, Henk. “Dead-Sea Scrolls in Clearance Sale.” Het Parool, 7 October(?).
“Police Investigate Illegal Sale of Ancient Scroll.” The Jerusalem Post, 1 November.
→ “Jerusalem police were investigating suspicions that an academic man [Hanan Eshel] and his aide were involved in the illegal sale of an ancient scroll [ArugLev] worth around $1 million.”
Lis, Jonathan. “Police Arrest Archaeologist Suspected of Ancient Relic Trade.” Haaretz, 2 November.
→ ArugLev
Cook, Edward M. “A Lost Scrap of Tobit from the Schoyen Collection.” Ralph the Sacred River, 9 December.
→ Tobit 14:3–4 (DSS F.123)
Cook, Edward M.“Reconstruction of the Aramaic Urtext of the Greek Tobit in the Sinaitic Recension.” (Captured 11 February 2006.)
2006
Shanks, Hershel. “Arrests Won’t Stop Looting Of Antiquities.” The Jewish Week, 14 April.
→ Lev 23:38–39 (ArugLev frg. a)
→ Lev 23:40–44, 24:16–19 (ArugLev frg. b-c)
→ “Every sane person opposes looting. But once the loot appears on the market, it must be rescued, especially if it has important information to impart.”
“Update—Finds or Fakes? Hanan Eshel’s Real Crime: Publishing Looted Antiquities.” Biblical Archaeological Society, 21 July.
→ Lev 23:38–39 (ArugLev frg. a)
→ Lev 23:40–44, 24:16–19 (ArugLev frg. b-c)
→ Words from Genesis 22 (“4Q226”)
→ “Hanan Eshel is among those scholars who publishes looted inscriptions, as does his wife Esther Eshel, who is also a prominent Dead Sea Scroll text scholar. For example, the couple (with Esther Eshel as senior author) recently published five Dead Sea Scroll fragments that turned up in the United States (Dead Sea Discoveries, Volume 12, no. 2, p.134 [2005]).”
→ “Although not widely known, numerous Dead Sea Scroll fragments are in private collections all over the world. The Eshels detect a ‘trend among collectors and antiquity dealers (perhaps due to economic factors) to share privately held fragments with the scholarly world.’ In the opinion of the Eshels, ‘Qumran scholars should be encouraged to make an effort to publish these fragments, which provide a more complete picture of the Qumran corpus.’“
“Scroll Fight: Israel Antiquities Authority versus Academia.“ Eretz: The Magazine of Israel.
→ Lev 23:38–39 (ArugLev frg. a)
→ Lev 23:40–44, 24:16–19 (ArugLev frg. b-c)
→ about the charges against Hanan Eshel.
2007
Sheleg, Yair. “Archaeologist: Antiquities Authority Destroying Leviticus Scroll.” Haaretz, 10 May.
→ Lev 23:38–39 (ArugLev frg. a)
→ Lev 23:40–44, 24:16–19 (ArugLev frg. b-c)
→ “… the scroll cuts are significantly more extensive than what [Amir] Ganor acknowledges and encompass nearly all the part of the scroll that has no writing on it” (Sheleg). Images from before and after it was cut are available here.
→ “Examinations of the scroll have undermined Eshel’s claim that the finding is authentic” (Ganor).
→ “… the examinations show that different portions of the scroll were written in different periods, which is a blow to the claim that the scroll is homogeneous.”
→ “… during the search in the cave where we found the scroll, we uncovered other archaeological finds for the period of the Bar-Kokhba revolt, proving the dating” (Eshel).
Brady, Christian. “New Genesis Text from the Judaean Desert.” Targuman, 17 July.
→ Gen 31:23–25(?); 32:3–6 (DSS F.191)
→ “Today James Charlesworth presented an image of a fragment (in two parts) that he acquired on 25 October 2006. He said it had been in Zurich since the 50’s and reportedly came from Kando.”
→ “AMSC14 dates it from 95-195 CE. JC believes it was found in the caves of the Dead Sea region. He wants scholars to report that he has tried to prove that it is a fake and he has been unable to so he asserts that it is authentic. He also announced that he has acquired another 30 DSS fragments. They will all(?) be available online later in August at http://ijco.org/.”
Johnson, Nick. “Ancient items, modern wonder.” St.Petersburg Times, 12 August.
→ Ps 11:1–3 (not DSS F.-number)
→ Two unidentified frgs belonging to Special Visit Ministry and “a group of physicians from New Jersey” respectively.
Davila, Jim. “ROGUE FRAGMENTS of the Dead Sea Scrolls on display in a church in Florida?” PaleoJudaica.com, 12 August.
2008
Michael Sharpe Rare & Antiquarian Books: Book 1. February.
→ Jer 48:29–31 (DSS F.156)
→ “24. [DEAD SEA SCROLLS]. Dark brown leather fragment of 2 x 1 inches (50 x 25 mm) with text from Jeremiah 48:29-31. Most likely from Cave 4, the text is written in a Herodian book hand on dark, brown leather, and some ink is visible to the naked eye. Translation by James Charlesworth, Chairman of the Dead Sea Scrolls Project at Princeton Theological Seminary: “[We have heard [the pride of Moab. He (is) exceedingly proud, of his loftiness and pride and arrogance, and of the haughtiness of his heart.” (48:30) “I [k]now [his wrath,” says the Lord, but it (is) not right; his lies have made nothing right. (48:31) Therefore I will wail for [Moab],” and I will cry out for Moab …” This fragment, previously unknown, has also been examined by Hanan Eshel, Chairman of Archaeology at Bar-Ilan University, Tel Aviv, and Emile Puech, Chief of Dead Sea Scroll Project at Ecole Biblique, Jerusalem, and is awaiting publication. MS-4199. $285,000”
Charlesworth, James H. “Announcing a Dead Sea Scrolls Fragment of Nehemiah.” Institute for Judaism and Christian Origins, 20(?) July.
Charlesworth, James H. “An Unknown Dead Sea Scrolls Fragment of Deuteronomy.” Institute for Judaism and Christian Origins, July/August.
→ Deut 27:4–6 (DSS F.154)
Charlesworth, James H. “Updated November 2009: An Unknown Dead Sea Scrolls Fragment of Deuteronomy.” Institute for Judaism and Christian Origins
Davila, Jim. “Two Ancient Biblical Scroll Fragments.” PaleoJudaica.com, 20 July.
→ Deut 27:4–6 (DSS F.154)
→ Neh 3:14–15 (DSS F.122)
Davila, Jim. “FURTHER THOUGHTS on the new Deuteronomy (?) fragment with a Samaritan reading in it.” PaleoJudaica.com, 23 July.
→ Deut 27:4–6 (DSS F.154)
Davila, Jim. “STILL MORE THOUGHTS on the new Deuteronomy (?) fragment that contains a Samaritan reading.” PaleoJudaica.com, 25 July.
→ Deut 27:4–6 (DSS F.154)
Legacy Ministries International. “LMI Acquires Dead Sea Scroll Fragment.” Newsletter, 15 September(?).
→ Deut 27:4–6 (DSS F.154)
2009
Davila, Jim. “DEAD SEA SCROLLS FRAGMENTS FOR SALE (by Michael R. Thompson, Booksellers, at their display at the San Francisco Antiquarian Book Fair later this month):” PaleoJudaica.com, 2 February.
→ Dan 5:13–16 (DSS F.155)
→ Exod 18:6–8 (DSS F.151)
Hartlaub, Peter. “Lots of stories at S.F. antiquarian book fair.” SFGate.com, 15 February.
→ “three postage stamp-size pieces of the Dead Sea Scrolls … they’re shaped like the state of Missouri, a rooster and a Chicken McNugget” [→ Dan 5:13–16 (DSS F.155)?; Exod 18:6–8 (DSS F.151)?; Lev 10:4–7 (DSS F.152)?]
Davila, Jim “MORE ON THE DEAD SEA SCROLL FRAGMENTS for sale in at a antiquarian book fair in San Francisco (San Francisco Chronicle):” PaleoJudaica.com, 15 February.
Meland, Astrid. “Har kjøpt fem nye biter av Dødehavsrullene [Have bought five new pieces of the Dead Sea Scrolls].” Dagbladet Magasinet, 3 April.
→ About Martin Schøyen’s acquisition of five new fragments. Torleif Elgvin describes some of the content as juicy.
Trailer for “The Dead Sea Scroll & the Ancient World” exhibition 27 August – 20 September at the Arts House, Singapore.
→ Lev 10:4–7 (DSS F.152)
→ Deut 8:2–5 (DSS F.153)
→ Deut 27:4–6 (DSS F.154)
Davila, Jim. “2 Enoch: All Your Base Are Belong to Us.” PaleoJudaica.com, 20 June.
→ 1 En. 7:1–5 (DSS F.124)
→ 1 En. 106:19–107:1 (DSS F.126)
Azusa Pacific University. “Azusa Pacific University Acquires Five Dead Sea Scroll Fragments and Rare Biblical Artifacts.” apu.edu, 3 September. Corrected version, 10 February 2010.
→ Exod 18:6–8 (DSS F.151)
→ Lev 10:4–7 (DSS F.152)
→ Deut 8:2–5 (DSS F.153)
→ Deut 27:4–6 (DSS F.154)
→ Dan 5:13–16 (DSS F.155)
Cargill, Robert. “azusa pacific acquires dead sea scrolls fragments.” RobertCargill.com, 4 September.
Cargill, Robert. “on the acquisition of dead sea scrolls fragments by azusa pacific university.” RobertCargill.com, 9 September. [Post removed]
→ About the Azusa frgs and specifically Deut 27:4–6 (DSS F.154)
→ “the acquisition of five dead sea scrolls fragments by azusa pacific university is a momentous occasion. this acquisition removes five fragments of the scrolls from the open market and places azusa pacific firmly on the map as an institution of higher learning committed to the academic study of the bible and the archaeology of the ancient near east. as long as the fragments are cared for, published, and made available to scholars for research and to the public for viewing, i support the acquisition, and would ask my colleagues to do the same.”
Helfand, Duke. “Southern California universities acquire rare religious texts.” Los Angeles Times, 14 September.
→ About the Azusa frgs and specifically Deut 27:4–6 (DSS F.154)
The Samaritan Update. “Vol. VIII – No.6.” July/August.
Davila, Jim. “THE DEAD SEA SCROLL FRAGMENTS acquired by Azusa Pacific University get coverage in the Los Angeles Times:” PaleoJudaica.com, 2 October.
Juedes, Joy. “Yucaipan brings scrolls to Azusa Pacific.” Redlands Daily Facts, 2 October.
→ “[Robert] Duke … spent most of the summer confirming the authenticity of the five scroll fragments the university recently acquired.”
→ “Azusa acquired four of the scroll fragments from Biondi Rare Books and Manuscripts in Venice, Calif. The fifth came from Legacy Ministries International in Phoenix.”
→ “Azusa Pacific is the third institution of higher education in the country, besides Princeton Theological Seminary and the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago, to own original Dead Sea Scroll fragments. ‘That’s a great group of schools to be on the list with,’ Duke said.”
→ “Duke said when he first saw digital photos of the fragments, he was struck by how genuine they looked. ‘I spent a few months poring over photos, going to the seller to make sure they were authentic,’ he said. ‘Some of it is just looking at lettering – they look like what other scrolls look like that came out of Qumran or other caves,’ he said. The seller also provided carbon dating information, which helps verify age, he said. ‘By looking at it and comparing with other fragments it was pretty clear we were handling the real material,’ he said.”
Davila, Jim. “SOME BACKGROUND to the acquisition of Dead Sea Scrolls fragments by Azusa Pacific University:” PaleoJudaica.com, 2 October.
Juedes, Joy. “Scholar’s road to Dead Sea Scrolls runs through Glendora, Yucaipa.” The Pasadena Star News, 8 October.
2010
Collier, Keith. “Dead Sea Scrolls acquired by Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.” swbts.edu/news/, 20 January.
→ Exod 23:8–10 (DSS F.161)
→ Lev 20:24, 18:28–30 (DSS F.162)
→ Dan 6:22–24 (DSS F.166)
→ “Early analysis shows the fragments owned by Southwestern include portions of Exodus 23, Leviticus 18 and Daniel 6, although the seminary will conduct further study on the pieces. A pen made from a Palm tree, which was found with the Dead Sea Scrolls and presumably used by the scribes who wrote them, was also gifted to the seminary as part of the collection. It is only one of three pens known to exist from the Dead Sea Scroll discoveries. ‘I am particularly grateful for having the Daniel fragments,’ Patterson said. ‘Daniel is one of the most attacked books in the Bible.’”
Collier, Keith. “Swbts Obtains Dead Sea Scrolls Fragments.” Baptist Press, 21 January.
Cargill, Robert. “southwestern baptist theological seminary acquires dead sea scrolls fragments.” RobertCargill.com, 20 January.
→ Exod 23:8–10 (DSS F.161)
→ Lev 20:24, 18:28–30 (DSS F.162)
→ Dan 6:22–24 (DSS F.166)
→ Dan 7:18–19 (DSS F.167)
Davila, Jim. “SBTS buys 3 DSS fragments.” PaleoJudaica.com, 21 January.
→ Exod 23:8–10 (DSS F.161)
→ Lev 20:24, 18:28–30 (DSS F.162)
→ Dan 6:22–24 (DSS F.166)
→ Dan 7:18–19 (DSS F.167)
“The seminary bought the pieces for an undisclosed price from a private collector who had them in a Swiss bank.”
Charlesworth, James H. “What is a Variant? Announcing a Dead Sea Scrolls Fragment of Deuteronomy.” Updated March 2010, cf. Charlesworth 2009.
→ Deut 27:4–6 (DSS F.154)
Schattner-Rieser, Ursula. “Garizim versus Ebal. Ein neues Qumranfragment samaritanischer Tradition?” Early Christianity 1/2: 277–81.
→ Deut 27:4–6 (DSS F.154)
Barge, Evelyn. “In Azusa, scholars and religious leaders unravel rare Dead Sea Scrolls fragments.” sgvtribune, 26 March.
→ “‘It’s extremely important that Azusa has these,’ said James H. Charlesworth, director of the Dead Sea Scrolls Project at Princeton Theological Seminary. ‘Now, for the first time, scholars will know about them … and will be able to engage in research on them.’”
→ “If the fragment [Deut 27:4–6, DSS F.154] is indeed an original copy of Deuteronomy, the revelation has the potential to change the understanding – and possibly even the wording – of the modern bible, Charlesworth said.”
Davila, Jim. “More on the Azusa Pacific exhibition of their DSS fragments.” PaleoJudaica, 27 March.
Barge, Evelyn. “Unlocking the Dead Sea Scrolls.” Rose Magazine, April: 38–42.
→ A feature on Dead Sea Scrolls research and Azusa Pacific’s acquisition of five fragments.
Hoff, Cynndie. “Discovery and Scholarship.” APULIFE 23.1: 12–13.
Charlesworth, James H. “Jeremiah 48:29-31a [Provisional Research Report].” May.
→ DSS F.156
Azusa Pacific University. “Azusa Pacific’s Dead Sea Scrolls and Biblical Artifacts Exhibition Opens May 21.” apu.edu, 11 May.
→ Exod 18:6–8 (DSS F.151)
→ Lev 10:4–7 (DSS F.152)
→ Deut 8:2–5 (DSS F.153)
→ Deut 27:4–6 (DSS F.154)
→ Dan 5:13–16 (DSS F.155)
“Azusa Pacific acquired the five fragments and a number of rare biblical antiquities in August 2009.”
Elgvin, Torleif. “Dead Sea Scrolls: Introduction.” The Schøyen Collection, 29 September.
→ Introduction to the “Dead Sea Scrolls” of the Schøyen Collection.
Davila, Jim. “SBTS acquires more DSS fragments.” PaleoJudaica.com, 24 October.
→ Deut 9:25–10:1 (DSS F.163)
→ Deut 12:11–14 (DSS F.164)
→ Ps 22:4–13 (DSS F.165)
“The fragments were obtained from a private collector in Europe through a gift from a friend of the seminary, according to a news release. Early analysis shows that the new fragments include two portions of Deuteronomy and one of the Psalms.“
“Origin, The Museum.” YouTube, 19 November:
→ Promotion video for an exhibition about evolution and the Dead Sea Scrolls(!). Interview with curator Joel Lampe + a short glimpse of 5–7 frgs – among them W 17 and W 16 (presented as a fragment of 4Q418).
“Unpublished Dead Sea Scroll Fragments Recently Acquired by Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.” SBL Program Book [11/21/2011 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM].
→ “In 2010, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary acquired eight Dead Sea Scroll fragments, seven of which have never before been published. Seven of these fragments have been identified as pieces of biblical manuscripts, and one of them is from an unidentified work. This session will introduce the seven unpublished fragments to the scholarly community and begin the conversation about their significance for biblical studies and serve as a point of departure for discussing pertinent aspects of larger issues.”
Hawkins, Benjamin. “Southwestern releases latest journal on Dead Sea Scrolls.” swbts.edu, 30 November.
→ “The release of this issue of the journal follows Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary’s recent acquisition of Dead Sea Scroll fragments.”
→ “In October, Southwestern Seminary announced the acquisition of three Dead Sea Scroll fragments, added to another three fragments that the school attained less than a year ago. With these six scroll fragments, Southwestern owns the largest collection of Dead Sea Scrolls of any institution of higher education in the United States.”
2011
Hawkins, Benjamin. “Dead Sea Scrolls expert presents book in chapel.” swbts.edu, 6 April.
→ “Southwestern Seminary currently possesses ten fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls. [Peter] Flint, a professor at Trinity Western University and co-director for the Dead Sea Scrolls Institute, has partnered with the seminary in promoting the study and publication of these scrolls.”
→ “Flint made this presentation, he said, ‘to salute and honor your (Southwestern Seminary’s) interest in the Dead Sea Scrolls, your purchase of the Dead Sea Scrolls, your commitment to Dead Sea Scrolls scholarship, and also to celebrate a new venture.’ This new venture, he added, involves the ongoing study and publication of Southwestern Seminary’s scroll fragments.”
“Dead Sea.” YouTube, 7 April.
→ Am 3:4–5
Fields, Weston W. “Dead Sea Scrolls: Significance of the Latest Developments.” YouTube, 16 April:
Davila, Jim. “Ten DSS fragments at SWBTS?” PaleoJudaica.com, 2 May.
Elgvin, Torleif. “A Variant Literary Edition of 2 Samuel from Qumran.” ISBL London, 3–7 July.
→ 2 Sam 20:22–24 (DSSF.114)
Elgvin, Torleif. “Artifacts and Scrolls from The Schøyen Collection. Implications for Qumran Archaeology and Understanding the Yahad.” ISBL London, 3–7 July.
Lutheran Hour Ministry. “Bible on Trial (Part 4).” Youtube, 17 July:
→ Dan 5:13–16 (DSS F.155)
Hawkins, Benjamin. “Professors present research on Dead Sea Scroll fragments at SBL.” swbts.edu, 12 December.
→ “Southwestern Seminary currently houses the largest collection of fragments owned by an institution of higher education within the United States.”
→ “In particular, [Peter] Flint argued that Southwestern’s scroll fragments, alongside others, have revealed which biblical texts were most widely read by the Jewish community that preserved the Dead Sea Scrolls and hid them in the caves near Qumran.”
Elgvin, Torleif. “News from the Schøyen Collection [update 22.12.2011].” Torleifelgvin.no, 22 December.
→ “Together with Esther Eshel I am working on fragments from 29 scrolls (+ scraps of four more), twenty of these so far unpublished. 21 are biblical, some sectarian, five apocryphal or Enochic (including a fragment from an unknown Enoch-related text). Most of the fragments were found by the Bedouin in Cave 4, while 2-4 likely derive from Bar Kokhba caves.”
→ “A ‘new’ fragment of 1QSamuel [2 Sam 20:22–24, DSSF.114] suggests that this scroll preserved a shorter ending of 2 Sam 21–24 that contained only five of the eight appendices to the canonical 2 Samuel.”
2012
Elgvin, Torleif. “News from the Schøyen Collection [update 16.02.2012].” Torleifelgvin.no, 16 February (new text is underlined).
→ “Together with Esther Eshel I am working on fragments from 29 scrolls (+ scraps of four more), twenty of these so far unpublished. 21 are biblical, some sectarian, five apocryphal or Enochic (including a fragment from an unknown Enoch-related text and two ‘new’ copies of 1 Enoch). Most of the fragments were found by the Bedouin in Cave 4, while 2-4 likely derive from Bar Kokhba caves.”
→ “A ‘new’ fragment of 1QSamuel [2 Sam 20:22–24, DSSF.114] suggests that this scroll preserved a shorter ending of 2 Sam 21–24 that contained only five of the eight appendices to the canonical 2 Samuel. The collection includes the first known fragment of Nehemiah, as well as fragments with interesting textual variants of books such as Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, 1 Samuel, the Twelve, Ruth, and Proverbs.”
Charlesworth, James. “John the Baptist, Jesus, and the Dead Sea Scrolls: Amazing Shifts in Thinking.” The Institute for Christian Living at the Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville, 19 February.
→ Deut 27:4–6 (DSS F.154) [from 55:30]
Jones, Jim. “Fort Worth seminary unveils newly acquired Dead Sea Scrolls fragment.” Star-Telegram, 14 April.
→ On Southwestern’s Acquisition of “Dead Sea Scroll” Fragments
→ Dead Sea Skull? “Tests are under way to determine whether … two additional fragments, including one written on a man’s skull, were part of the Dead Sea Scrolls found in the Qumran Caves east of Jerusalem.”
Longacre, Drew. “Identifying Unknown Manuscripts.” OTTC: A Blog for Old Testament Textual Criticism, 16 April.
→ Gen 31:23–25?, 32:3–6 (DSS F.191)
“Strata: Nehemiah Found in the Scrolls.” BAR 38.3: 18.
→ About post-2002 frgs in the Schøyen Collection, based on a blogpost (see above) by prof. Torleif Elgvin.
→ Neh 3:14–15 (DSS F.122)
“Book of Nehemiah Found Among the Scrolls.” Bible History Daily, 15 May.
“Book of Nehemiah Found Among the Dead Sea Scrolls.” Popular Archaeology 6 (March), 22 May.
Collier, Keith. “The Greatest Manuscript Discovery of Modern Times.” Theological Matters, 5 June.
→ On Southwestern’s Acquisition of “Dead Sea Scroll” Fragments
“The Good Life Bruce McCoy – See The Scrolls 6-4-12.” The Good Life CTN flagship show, 6 June.
→ About the exhibition “Dead Sea Scrolls & The Bible: Ancient Artifacts, Timeless Treasures” (2 July, 2012 – 13 January, 2013):
Hawkins, Benjamin. “Shedding Light on the Enduring Word.” Theological Matters, 7 June.
→ About Southwestern’s research and handling of the their fragments.
The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bible. SouthwesternNews 70/3.
Colter, Sharaya. “Dead Sea Scrolls, Bible history brought to life in seminary exhibit.” Baptist Press, 27 June.
“The Largest Privately Owned Dead Sea Scroll Fragment to Debut at Antiquities Exhibition in Fort Worth.” SeetheScrolls.com, 28 June.
→ “One of the largest Dead Sea Scroll fragments ever to be on public display outside Israel will be available to view starting July 2, 2012, at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary’s exhibition…. From Genesis 37-38, the scroll fragment is owned by the Kando family of Bethlehem and is considered to be the largest Dead Sea Scroll segment held by a private collector. Never exhibited before, it is among the 21 fragments that will be on view at the seminary’s MacGorman Performing Arts Center through January 13, 2013.
In addition to this rare fragment, the Kando family recently provided on loan five other fragments for the exhibition. These fragments – Genesis 33, 1 Kings 13:22-22 [sic], Isaiah 28:23-29, Amos 7:17- 8:1 and Joel 3:9-10 – are in place for the grand opening on Monday, July 2, 2012. With these fragments, and others on loan from the Green Collection and The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Southwestern has increased the number of fragments on view from 16 to 21. Biblical passages from Nehemiah, Ezekiel, and Jonah are among the recent additions.”
Zaimov, Stoyan. “Largest Privately Owned Dead Sea Scroll Fragment to Be Unveiled at Texas Seminary.” Christian Post, 29 June.
→ Genesis 33 [Gen 33:19–34:2?] (no DSS F.-number)
→ Gen 37:26–38 (no DSS F.-number)
→ 1 Kings 13:22–22 [sic! 1 Kings 13:20–22] (DSS F.170)
→ Isaiah 28:23–29 (no DSS F.-number)
→ Amos 7:17–8:1 (DSS F.181)
→ Joel 3:9–10 (no DSS F.-number)
→ “passages from Nehemiah, Ezekiel, and Jonah” [Neh 2:13–16 (DSS F.201); Ezek 28:22 (DSS F.196); Jona 4:2–5 (DSS F.197)]
Southwestern Seminary. “Southwestern Seminary Opens Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibition.” PR Newswire, 2 July.
Charlesworth, James H. “The Discovery of an Unknown Dead Sea Scroll: The Original Text of Deuteronomy 27?” Ohio Wesleyan Magazine (July).
→ Deut 27:4–6 (DSS F.154)
The [all-male] Lecture Series in connection with Dead Sea Scrolls & the Bible – Fort Worth, Texas Exhibition (July 2, 2012 – January 13, 2013)
Akers, Shawn A. “Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibit Takes Visitors (Way) Back to the Bible.” CharismaNews, 8 August.
→ About the “Dead Sea Scrolls & the Bible” Exhibition.
Hawkins, Benjamin. “Flint: ‘Dead Sea Scrolls confirm the accuracy of the biblical text’.” swbts.edu, 13 August.
→ “Dead Sea Scroll fragments from the book of Daniel … defy the skepticism of scholars who deny the possibility of predictive prophecy, Randall Price, distinguished research professor and executive director of the Center for Judaic Studies at Liberty University, said in an earlier lecture, July 31. One such fragment, owned by Southwestern Seminary, is currently on display in the seminary’s Dead Sea Scrolls & the Bible exhibition.”
Cowen, Diane. “Story behind exhibit as extraordinary as Scrolls.” Houston Chronicle, 23 August.
→ The story behind the “Dead Sea Scrolls & the Bible” Exhibition.
Davila, Jim. “Background on SWBTS DSS exhibit.” PaleoJudaica.com, 27 August.
Mariani, Anthoni. “Dead Sea Scrolls.“ Fort Worth Weekly, 7 November.
“The rooms containing the 21 actual fragments are tight and, for conservation purposes, dark. Of all of the displays, easily the most striking is the one devoted to Genesis, on display for the first time. One of the partial stories is the famous one of Joseph and his ‘robe of many colors’.”
2013
Reed, Stephen A. “A Babel of Languages in the Dead Sea Scrolls.” Collegeville Institute, 16 January.
→ [19:18–21:53] Deut 27:4–6 (DSS F.154)
→ [21:54–22:15] Lev 23:38–39 (ArugLev frg. a); Lev 23:40–44, 24:16–19 (ArugLev frg. b-c)
Dead Sea Scrolls Foundation. “How can you take part in the publication of the scrolls?” deadseascrollsfoundation.com, March.
→ The Dead Sea Scrolls Foundation introduces a new Brill series devoted to publishing 80 new fragments.
Fields, Weston W. Review of Doyen of the Dead Sea Scrolls: An In-Depth Biography of Józef Tadeusz Milik (1922–2006), by Zdzislaw J. Kapera and Robert Feather. Bible History Daily, 10 April.
→ “Milik was also important in ways quite apart from his Cave 4 work. For example, he played a critical role in the secret identification and preliminary transcription of the approximately 100–175 fragments (depending on how one counts) that were not part of the assignment of the Cave 4 team, but have been sold or offered for sale by the Kando family since 1998 and are identified by the Kando family as coming from Cave 4. Milik was not the only member of the Cave 4 team to have participated in this recent (and ongoing) effort to obtain additional texts from the family of the antiquities dealer through whom most of the Dead Sea Scrolls came to light.” [Thanks to Stephen Goranson for this reference!]
Estrin, Daniel. “Dead Sea Scroll fragments to hit the auction block.” Times of Israel, 25 May.
→ About William Kando’s frgs, the Schøyen Collection, Azusa Pacific University, Soutwestern Baptist Theological Seminar, the Green Collection, and Hanan Eshel’s Leviticus frgs.
“Little Bits of the Dead Sea Scrolls Put Up for Sale.” The Associated Press, 25 May.
Prigg, Mark. “Dead Sea Scrolls Go up for Sale as Family Sells off Fragments It Secretly Stashed in a Swiss Safety Deposit Box.” MailOnline, 27 May.
“Dead Sea scroll fragments on sale.” NIT, 26 May.
→ “Randall Price wrote on the ministry website that while in Israel, he met with William Kando …”
→ “‘William now possesses the remains of one large scroll of Genesis (valued at $35 million) and numerous fragments of biblical and other texts. A number of these were recently sold by him to Azuza Pacific University and the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. … Kando does have more fragments for sale, however, the price is in the hundreds of thousands of dollars and he is very insistent that the remaining fragments go to institutions that deal with the Bible so that they can be shared with Christian believers,’ Price wrote.” [Thanks to Roberta Mazza for this reference!]
Barnhart, Melissa. “Dead Sea Scroll Fragments Up for Sale; Will Another Private Citizen Be Owner?” CP world, 31 May.
→ Gen 37:26–38 (no DSS F.-number)
Langlois, Michael. “Un manuscrit araméen inédit du livre d’Hénoch et les versions anciennes de 1 Hénoch 7,4.” Semitica 55: 101–16.
→ 1En. 7:1–5 (DSS F.124)
Estrin, Daniel. “American evangelical collectors buy up Dead Sea Scroll fragments.” PRI, 7 August:
→ With comments from William Kando, Lee Biondi, Jerry Pattengale, and Eibert Tigchelaar.
Harris, J. Gerald. “Dorothy Patterson Chief Negotiator in Historic Acquisition.” The Christian Index, 17 October.
Lanier Theological Library. “Original Dead Sea Scrolls Fragment on Display.” 25 October.
→ Amos 7:17–8:1 (DSS F.181)
2014
Tov, Emanuel. “New Fragments of Amos.” DSD 21 (2014): 3–13.
→ Amos 7:17–8:1 (DSS F.181)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeJJMTI0okY&app=desktop
→ Two frgs of “4Q418”
(thanks to David Bradnick for notifying us about this video)
→ “He [Craig Lampe] recently sold fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls, once displayed at the museum, to a collector in New Zealand.”
2015
“Azusa Pacific University Dead Sea Scrolls Collection.” Azusa Pacific University Digital Collections.
→ Images of APU’s five frgs
→ “In 2009 Azusa Pacific University acquired five Dead Sea Scroll fragments which include: 1) Portions of Leviticus 10:4-7 [DSS F.152], 2) Portions of Deuteronomy 8:2-5 [DSS F.153], 3) Portions of Deuteronomy 27:4-6 [DSS F.154], 4) Portions of Daniel 5:13-16 [DSS F.155], and 5) an Unidentified Fragment [DSS F.151].”
2016
Clark, Nick and John Lichfield. “Albert Einstein’s notebook and Dead Sea Scrolls fragments among historic manuscripts struggling to find buyer.” The Independent, 2 February.
The American Judeo-Christian Heritage Foundation. 4 March.
→ mission: “To purchase, translate, display and promote the last remaining Dead Sea Scrolls (DDS) and other early Christian manuscripts” [dealer: William Kando, asking price: +$300,000,000].
→ changes at some point the name to “The Artifact Research & Translation Foundation” (before 4 October).
Burleigh, Nina. “The Messiah Cometh: Hobby Lobby’s Museum of the Bible Descends on the Nation’s Capital.” Newsweek, 7 April.
→ “[…] Michael Langlois […] contacted the museum to report what he believed was a forgery in its collection and asked to inspect it. ‘I was told that Green is not interested in finding out whether his scrolls are genuine or not,’ Langlois says.”
“Museum of the Bible Releases Research Findings on 13 Unpublished Dead Sea Scrolls Fragments.” demoss.com, 8 August.
→ “’The editors and their team have produced a masterful edition of 13 Judean Desert fragments, most probably from Qumran and almost all from the Hebrew Scriptures,’ said Dr. Lawrence Schiffman …. ‘They have brought to bear the best of scientific and textual methods available to their task. While testifying to the various forms of the text of the Hebrew Bible known from Antiquity, these fragments point toward the dominance of the proto-Masoretic text by the end of the first century CE.’”
Gurry, Peter. “First Museum of the Bible Volume Released with 13 Previously Unpublished Dead Sea Scrolls.” Evangelical Textual Criticism, 9 August.
Justnes, Årstein. “A List of 70 Unprovenanced, Post-2002 Dead Sea Scrolls-like Fragments.” Lyingpen.com, 11 August.
Justnes, Årstein. “Post-2002 Dead Sea Scrolls-like Fragments: Number of Lines and Measurements [preliminary list].” Lyingpen.com, 12 August.
Mazza, Roberta. “Fragments of an Unbelievable Past? Constructions of Provenance, Narratives of Forgery. A Report.” Faces & Voices: People, Artefacts, Ancient History, 19 September.
Davis, Kipp. “Gleanings from the Cave of Wonders? Patterns of Correspondence in the Post-2002 Dead Sea Scrolls Fragments.” Academia, 20 September.
Jarus, Owen. “25 New ‘Dead Sea Scrolls’ Revealed.” Live Science, 10 October.
→ “[T]he cabinet minister in charge of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), along with a number of scholars, believes that there are undiscovered scrolls that are being found by looters in caves in the Judean Desert. The IAA is sponsoring a new series of scientific surveys and excavations to find these scrolls before looters do.”
→ “Antiquities dealer William Kando told Live Science that he doesn’t know where the donated fragments [i.e. the Museum of the Bible frgs] originated.”
Jarus, Owen. “Are These New Dead Sea Scrolls the Real Thing?” Live Science, 10 October.
Burleigh, Nina. “Newly Discovered Dead Sea Scrolls are Skillfully Crafted Fakes, Experts Suspect.” Newsweek, 18 October.
→ Lev 20:24, 18:28–30 (DSS F.162)
Behrmann, Anna. “Dead Sea Scrolls fragments put on sale for first time by Hampstead dealer.” Ham & High, 27 October.
→ “the so-called ‘W’ fragments”
Hindman, Sandra. “The Dead Sea Scrolls: Unpublished and previously unknown fragments will be on exhibit in ‘2000 Years of Jewish Culture’.” Textmanuscripts: Les Eluminures, 3 November.
→ “the so-called ‘W’ fragments”
Justnes, Årstein and Ludvik A. Kjeldsberg. “The Post-2002 Dead Sea Scrolls Fragments: A Tentative Timeline of Acquisitions.” Lyingpen.com, 20 December.
2017
Justnes, Årstein. «Forfalskninger av dødehavsruller: Om mer enn 70 nye fragmenter – og historien om ett av dem (DSS F.154; 5 Mos 27,4–6) [Faking the Dead Sea Scrolls: On More than 70 New Fragments – and the Story about One of Them (DSS F.154; Deut 27:4-6)]». Teologisk Tidsskrift 6, no. 1 (2017): 70–83.
Jarus, Owen. “12th Dead Sea Scrolls Cave Found in Israel.” Livescience.com, 8 February.
→ “Some of the thousands of fragments of Dead Sea Scrolls that are now in museums or private collections could have come from this new cave rather than the 11 previously known caves, Gutfeld said.”
Jarus, Owen. “70 years after Dead Sea Scrolls were found, new discoveries await.” Livescience.com/CBS News, 8 February.
Donahue, Michelle Z. “New Dead Sea Scroll Find May Help Detect Forgeries.” National Geographic, 10 February.
→ with comments from Oren Gutfeld, Randall Price, and Lawrence Schiffman
→ “The team … found pieces of parchment with no writing on it. Such material has become a hot commodity, with scraps of ancient parchment commanding high prices, according to Randall Price, an archaeologist at Liberty University who collaborated on the project. Much of the material is supplied by looters, who in recent years have been aggressively targeting the Dead Sea caves.”
→ “‘Over the past 15 years there has been an increase in the number of Dead Sea Scroll fragments offered for sale on the private art market, said Lawrence Schiffman, professor of Hebrew and Judaic studies at New York University and an authority on the scrolls. ‘Many of the fragments that entered the market since 2002 appear to be forged.’ Some forgeries have expert lettering on parchment as old as the actual scrolls themselves, Schiffman said. ‘It’s possible some of this is coming from caves where people were able to locate ancient blank material to write on.’”
→ “The blank parchment that archaeologists recently found may shed light on how high quality forgeries could be making their way to the market. And because it was recovered by scientifically rigorous methods, the parchment will help experts assess fragments that show up for sale. ‘When things turn up, you just don’t know where they came from—you’re relying on the testimony of the seller,’ Price said. ‘We need these controlled excavations so that when something’s found, there’s no doubt of its origins and authenticity.’”
Jarus, Owen. “28 Dead Sea Scroll fragments sold in the U.S.” Livescience.com/CBS News, 3 April.
→ “William Kando has raised concerns about the number of scroll pieces claimed to have shown up in the United States. In conversations with Live Science, he said that while his family has sold some scroll fragments to collectors in the United States over the past few decades, the family didn’t sell them in the numbers that some collectors are claiming.”
Jarus, Owen. “In Photos: Dead Sea Scrolls in America.” Livescience.com, 3 April.
Olimberio, Regin. “Fake Dead Sea Scrolls Sold In The US: Products Of Sophisticated Archeological Forgeries.” The Science Times, 4 April. [Thanks to Anastasia Vatousiadi for making us aware of this article!]
→ “William Kando expressed concern over the ballooning number of scroll fragments that are popping up. Kando stressed that the number of claims doesn’t match to the scrolls and fragments that their family actually sold – the numbers simply doesn’t add up. For example, one claim says that they purchased 15 fragments from the Kandos in 2002 but the family said they sold only 7 in that year.”
Johnson, Michael B. “A Case Study in Professional Ethics Concerning Secondary Publications of Unprovenanced Artefacts: The New Edition DSS F.Instruction1.” Distant Worlds Journal 2: 28–42.
→ Instruction (=4Q418 ii 4–5; DSS F.202).
Elgvin, Torleif. “Use of new technologies in research and publication of Dead Sea Scrolls.” Les manuscrits de la mer Morte, 70 ans après – Bilan des recherches, 26 April:
→ From 54:49 [last 5–6 minutes]: a review of suspicious features in Schøyen frgs Jer 3:15–19 (DSS F.116), Neh 3:14–15 (DSS F.122), Tob 14:3–4 (DSS F.123), 1 En. 8:4–9:3 (DSS F.125), and 1 En. 106:19–107:1 (DSS F.126).
“Publication of Azusa Pacific University’s Dead Sea Scrolls to Enhance Biblical Scholarship.” News Release published on apu.edu, 17 May.
→ about the formal publication of the APU “Dead Sea Scrolls” frgs to “appear as a volume in the prestigious Princeton Theological Seminary Dead Sea Scrolls Project series in 2017”.
Weiss, Daniel. “Scroll Search.” Archaeology Magazine: A publication of the Archaeological Institute of America. May/June.
→ “Recently, small fragments of texts purported to be from the area have appeared on the antiquities market. Many are thought to be fakes, but they have led to concern that there are undiscovered Dead Sea Scrolls, and that looters are getting to them in advance of archaeologists.”
→ “For Lawrence Schiffman of New York University, the blank parchment is … the excavation’s most important find, …. He sees it as an explanation for how forgers have managed to produce fake Dead Sea Scroll fragments that appear to be genuine based on radiocarbon dating. ‘It tells us that it is possible to recover blank animal skin material from antiquity that could be used to make fakes,’ he says. ‘Since this cave had some writing material, it may be that other caves had blank writing material as well.’”
Davis, Kipp, Ira Rabin, Ines Feldman, Myriam Krutzsch, Hasia Rimon, Årstein Justnes, Torleif Elgvin, and Michael Langlois. “Nine Dubious ‘Dead Sea Scrolls’ Fragments from the Twenty-First Century.” DSD 24/2: .
→ deals with nine fragments from the Schøyen Collection: DSS F.103 (Exod 3:13–15), DSS F.104 (Exod 5:9–14), DSS F.105 (Exod 16:10), DSS F.112 (1 Sam 2:11–14), DSS F.122 (Neh 3:14–15), DSS F.123 (Tob 14:3–4), DSS F.124 (1 En. 7:1–5), DSS F.125 (1 En. 8:4–9:3), and DSS F.126 (1 En. 106:19–107: 1).
Davis, Kipp. “Scaffolding Non-Overlapping Magisteria: Philology, Science and Journalism in the Study and Publication of Non-Provenanced Judaean Desert Manuscripts?” ISBL Berlin, 8 August:
Langlois, Michael. “Assessing the Authenticity of DSS Fragments Through Palaeographical Analysis.” ISBL Berlin, 8 August:
Elgvin,Torleif. “Copying Modern Text Editions in the Post-2002 Scrolls Fragments.” ISBL Berlin, 8 August:
Rabin, Ira. “The Contribution of Material Analysis to the Identification of Forged Writing Materials.” ISBL Berlin, 8 August:
Crawford, Sidnie White. “Looking for Forgeries in the Southwestern Baptist Fragments.” ISBL Berlin, 8 August:
Justnes, Årstein. “The Post-2002 and the Post-2009 Dead Sea Scrolls-like Fragments: A Timeline.” ISBL Berlin, 8 August:
Perrin, Andrew. “Ignoring, Engaging, or Incorporating Non-Provenanced Aramaic Fragments in Secondary Source Publications and Research Projects.” ISBL Berlin, 8 August:
→ Dan 10:18–20 (DSS F.200)
Justnes, Årstein. “The Post-2002 DSS-like Fragments: A Price List.” Lyingpen.com, 17 August.
Fonn, Geir Ove. “Dødehavsruller er lukrativ svindelindustri.” Vårt Land, 22 August [Norwegian].
Elgvin, Torleif. “Falske Dødehavsruller i omløp.” Aftenposten, 25 August. [Norwegian]
Haabeth, Nina. “Norsk-ledet forskerteam har avslørt falske Dødehavsruller.” NTB/Dagen, 1 September [Norwegian].
Haabeth, Nina. “Norsk-ledet forskerteam har avslørt falske Dødehavsruller.” Stavanger Aftenblad, 3 September [Norwegian].
Borschel-Dan, Amanda. “Dead Sea Scrolls scam: Dozens of recently sold fragments are fakes, experts warn.” The Times of Israel, 3 October.
Gurry, Peter. “More on Forged Dead Sea Scrolls, or ‘The Gospel of Jesus’ Wife saga times 70’.” Evangelical Textual Criticism, 4 October.
Langlois, Michael. “Nine Dubious ‘Dead Sea Scrolls’ Fragments from the Twenty-First Century.” Michael Langlois, 8 October.
Wad, Lizzie. “Can the Museum of the Bible overcome the sins of the past?” Science, 16 October.
→ with comments from Kipp Davis, Emanuel Tov, and David Trobisch
→ Tov still thinks the MOTB frgs are authentic: “I have not seen any solid analysis or arguments with regard to any particular document in the Museum of the Bible collection.”
Macdonalds, Alex. “The Dirt on the Dubious Dead Sea Scrolls: curiosities to consider as more information emerges.” Medium, 17 October.
Kirschner, Sebastian. “Von wegen biblisches Alter.” Süddeutsche Zeitung, 25 October.
Justnes, Årstein, and Josephine M. Rasmussen. “Soli Deo Gloria? The Scholars, the Market, and the Dubious Post-2002 Dead Sea Scrolls-like Fragments.” The Bible and Interpretation, 11 November.
Davis, Kipp. “Objects with Incomplete Provenance: Dead Sea Scroll Fragments.“ Museum of the Bible, 17 [?] November.
Greshko, Michael. “Forgeries May Hide in Museum of the Bible’s Dead Sea Scrolls.” National Geographic, 17 November.
Burke, Daniel. “Mystery at the new Bible museum: Are its Dead Sea Scrolls fake?” CNN, 18 November.
→ “The evangelical movement is really getting played here” (Kipp Davis).
→ “Every antiquities seller knew the Greens were buying everything and not asking questions about anything” (Joel Baden).
→ “The leather parchment appeared ancient enough, but the writing looked stretched and squeezed to fit the misshapen fragments. Some had bleeding letters and other markers of a scribe struggling to write on a weathered surface. One fragment [DSS F.201] had what appeared to be an annotation from a 1937 edition of the Hebrew Bible, an almost unbelievable anachronism.”
→ “[Davis] became convinced that at least six of the Greens’ 13 fragments are almost certainly forgeries.”
→ “Justnes … believes all 13 of the Greens’ fragments are modern-day forgeries.”
→ “[Emanuel] Tov says he is not convinced the fragments are fake. ‘I will not say the Museum of the Bible has no inauthentic fragments,” he said. ‘I will say I have not seen the proof.’ The handwriting anomalies Davis describes also occur in authentic Dead Sea Scrolls, Tov says.”
→ “Tov also noted that one of the world’s leading paleographers, Ada Yardeni, has studied the museum’s fragments. ‘She is accepted by everyone as the best paleographer in the world, and she has not raised one issue with the handwriting being non-authentic,’ Tov said.”
→ “During a recent interview at the Bible museum … [Steve Green] said he wasn’t sure who sold him the Dead Sea Scroll fragments.”
→ “[David] Trobisch says the museum knows — and will display — the provenance of the Dead Sea Scroll fragments. All but one, he said, can be traced back to the Kando family […] Still, Trobisch said the museum does not know where the fragments first came from. According to Tov, the Kandos listed the fragments as coming from ‘Qumran Cave 4,’ one of the 11 caves where Dead Sea Scrolls have been discovered. But both Tov and Trobisch question that. ‘I personally don’t think anyone in the world can know where they came from,’ Trobisch said.”
Press, Michael. “As the New Museum of the Bible Opens, Questions About its Scholarship Remain.” Hyperallergic, 20 November.
→ some or all of the thirteen Dead Sea Scroll fragments are likely modern forgeries
→ “Recent reporting on the museum collection’s purported Dead Sea Scroll fragments referred to three additional fragments not included in last year’s publication — three fragments not previously mentioned anywhere. Despite the scandals , despite the likelihood of forgery, despite the likelihood of illegal activities associated with unprovenanced artifacts, it seems that the Greens are continuing to purchase them.”
Beaumont, Peter, and Oliver Laughland. “Trade in Dead Sea Scrolls awash with suspected forgeries, experts warn.” The Guardian, 21 November.
→ with comments from Kipp Davis, Årstein Justnes, Dorothy Patterson, Martin Schøyen, William Kando, and Ira Rabin.
Rasmussen, Josephine M. «Forfalskninger som bestilt [Forgeries – as ordered]». Klassekampen, 30 November. [Norwegian]
Papin, Alice. “Les 13 faux parchemins de la mer Morte.” La Vie 3774, 21 December, 60-61.
→ Interview with Michael Langlois about the scandal of Dead Sea scrolls forgeries, especially in the Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC.
2018
University Relations. “APU’s Dead Sea Scroll Fragments Published.” apu.edu, 22 January.
→ The article says that Azusa Pacific’s School of Theology faculty team will publish its five DSS fragments “in an early 2018 series of the prestigious Princeton Theological Seminary Dead Sea Scrolls Project”.
Eibert Tigchelaar. “Beautiful Bookhands and Careless Characters: An Alternative Approach to the Dead Sea Scrolls.” The 8th Annual Rabbi Tann Memorial Lecture. University of Birmingham, 24 January.
→ Deut 32:5–9 (DSS F.109), Words from Genesis 22 (“Genesis Midrash”), Deut 8:2–5 (DSS F.153), and Deut 27:4–6 (DSS F.154)
Carroll, Scott. “Stones and Scriptures, part 1.” Seminar at the Christ’s Commission Fellowship Center, Manila, 23 February.
→ Exod 12:3–5 (No DSS F.-number) [24:19–38]
→ |32:48–33:48] “I worked with 13 Dead Sea Scrolls that haven’t been published yet. They’re right in the process of being published now…. I’ve seen things that aren’t known by other scholars, because they’re owned by the family who was involved with the major discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, called the Kando-family. I’ve seen three columns of Genesis. A text of Genesis that’s this big [holding arms outstretched to the side], that’s not published. And Emanuel Tov, who’s a colleague of mine who published the Dead Sea Scrolls, hasn’t seen…. some people see them and other people don’t, and they’re not published yet, …. They’re not being found in caves…. So when we say 300, that number’s gonna get higher. There’s just more there. I know there is. I’ve seen it.”
Hurtado, Larry. “Dead Sea Scrolls Fragments of Dubious Authenticity.” Larry Hurtado’s Blog, 15 March.
Elgvin, Torleif. “Slik avslørte vi de falske dødehavsrullene.” Forskning.no, 15 April.
Elgvin, Torleif. “Dødehavsrullene [The Dead Sea Scrolls].” Store norske leksikon, 23 April [later revised and correted several times].
[See the last paragraph “Moderne forfalskninger (Modern Forgeries)”]
Aune, Olav Egil. “‘– Noen av de falske tekstene er designet så avansert at det må ha stått bibelforskere bak’ [‘Some of the fake frgs are so advanced that Biblical Scholars must be behind’].” Vårt Land, 6 June.
→ Interview with Torleif Elgvin.
Barry, Jennifer and Eva Mroczek. “Origins Forum: Discovery and Interpretation of First-Millennium Manuscripts,” in Origin Stories: A Forum on the “Discovery” and Interpretation of First-Millennium Manuscripts. Edited by Jennifer Barry and Eva Mroczek. Marginalia, 22 June.
Davis, Kipp. “Gleanings from the Cave of Wonders? Fragments, Forgeries, and ‘Biblicism’ in the Dead Sea Scrolls,” in Origin Stories: A Forum on the “Discovery” and Interpretation of First-Millennium Manuscripts. Edited by Jennifer Barry and Eva Mroczek. Marginalia, 22 June.
Justnes, Årstein. “Fragments for Sale: Dead Sea Scrolls,” in Origin Stories: A Forum on the “Discovery” and Interpretation of First-Millennium Manuscripts. Edited by Jennifer Barry and Eva Mroczek. Marginalia, 22 June.
Mroczek, Eva. “Batshit Stories: New Tales of Discovering Ancient Texts,” in Origin Stories: A Forum on the “Discovery” and Interpretation of First-Millennium Manuscripts. Edited by Jennifer Barry and Eva Mroczek. Marginalia, 22 June.
Brill Publishing. “’Nine Dubious ‘Dead Sea Scrolls‘ Fragments from the Twenty-First Century’ explained.” Youtube, 7 August.
“Museum of the Bible Releases Research Findings on Fragments in Its Dead Sea Scrolls Collection.” MuseumoftheBible.org, 22 October.
→ “[T]he German-based Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM) has performed a battery of tests and concluded that the five fragments show characteristics inconsistent with ancient origin and therefore will no longer be displayed at the museum.”
Moss, Candida. “No Surprise: Museum’s Dead Sea Scrolls Turn Out to Be Forgeries.” The Daily Beast, 22 October.
→ “Now, it is revealed, the five small scraps purported to be parts of the Dead Sea Scrolls are forgeries. This isn’t news to scholars, though, who have been objecting to the presence of the fragments in the museum for roughly two years.”
→ “Some (full disclosure: I [CM] was among them) felt that the scrolls should not have been exhibited if the museum could not account for the authenticity or origins of these fragments.”
Greshko, Michael. “Five of Museum of the Bible’s Dead Sea Scrolls are forgeries.” National Geographic, 22 October.
→ with comments from Lawrence Schiffman, Kipp Davis, and Årstein Justnes. According to the article, it was Schiffman who wrote the placard text to the post-2002 fragments exhibited at Museum of the Bible.
→ “[In 2017] Schiffman said that at least a few of the post-2002 fragments must be real, since they fit into authentic Dead Sea Scrolls like puzzle pieces.”
→ DSS F.197 (Jona 4:2–5): “In that fragment … one Hebrew character is squeezed into a corner that wouldn’t have been there when the parchment was whole. The lines of text also seem to follow the contours of the fragment’s torn edges. ‘These [lines of text] are probably not authentic,’ says Davis. ‘It looks more like the letters were applied to something that has already deteriorated.’”
Iati, Marisa. “Museum of the Bible in D.C. removes items billed as Dead Sea Scrolls after experts find they are not authentic.” Washington Post, 22 October.
Ingvorsen, Emil Søndergård. “Museum i Washington: Fem værdifulde Dødehavsruller er falske.” DR, 22 October. [Danish]
Staff Reporter. “World famous Dead Sea Scrolls at Museum of the Bible ‘are fake’.” Independent, 22 October.
“Bible Museum says five of its Dead Sea Scrolls are fake.” BBC News, 23 October.
Burke, Daniel. “Bible Museum says five of its Dead Sea Scrolls are fake.” CNN, 23 October.
→ “… [Kipp Davis] believes 2-4 of the Greens’ 16 fragments may be authentic, but that at least 8 are fake.”
Borschel-Dan, Amanda. “Five proven Dead Sea Scroll forgeries only the tip of the iceberg, scholars say.” The Times of Israel, 23 October.
Caron, Christina. “Museum of Bible Removes Dead Sea Scrolls It Suspects Are Fake.” The New York TImes, 23 October.
Solly, Meilan. “Museum of the Bible Acknowledges Five of Its Dead Sea Scrolls Are Forgeries.” Smithsonian.com, 23 October.
Spiro, Amy. “DC Bible Museum pulls fake Dead Sea scrolls.” The Jerusalem Post, 23 October.
→ “Researcher Kipp Davis said he has confirmed with ‘high probability that at least seven fragments in the museum’s Dead Sea Scrolls collection are modern forgeries, but conclusions on the status of the remaining fragments are still forthcoming.’”
Henry, Andrew. “A Dead Sea Scrolls Forgery Casts Doubt on the Museum of the Bible.” The Atlantic, 24 October.
Press, Michael. “Dead Sea Scrolls at the Museum of the Bible Revealed as Forgeries.” Hyperallergic, 24 October.
→ “Considering how the story has been told to date, it is a PR coup. More than that: based on the Greens’ 3:1 model for purchase and donation, and exorbitant purchase prices for the post-2002 Dead Sea Scroll fragments …, they have likely made millions of dollars in profit just from their ‘altruistic’ donation of these 16 fragments. Given that this profit consists of public funds (in the form of tax breaks), the real losers, in this case, are us.”
Gordon, Nehemia. “Fake Dead Sea Scrolls Explained – Interview with Eibert Tigchelaar.” Youtube, 25 October.
Langlois, Michael. “À Washington, la Bible falsifiée.” The Conversation, 25 October.
Updated English version: “Fake scrolls at the Museum of the Bible.” Michael Langlois: Bible and HIstory, 5 November.
“BAM Research on the Dead Sea Scrolls fragments for the Museum of the Bible, Washington D.C.” BAM: Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung, 26 October.
“FAQs regarding BAM’s research report on the five Dead Sea Scrolls fragments for the Museum of the Bible.” BAM: Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung, 26 October.
Burke, Daniel. “After Bible Museum scandal, more American Christians suspect they bought fake Dead Sea Scrolls.” CNN, 27 October.
David, Ariel. “Dead Sea Scroll Fakes Abound, and Scholars Admit They Share the Blame.” Haaretz, 28 October.
Charney, Noah. “Lessons from the Museum of the Bible’s fake Dead Sea Scrolls: How not to buy looted antiquities.” Salon, 29 October.
Stackert, Jeffrey. “Faking the Bible.” Academia, 29 October.
Falk, Daniel. “The Dead Sea Scrolls are a priceless link to the Bible’s past.” The Conversation, 30 October.
Fincham, Derek. “Taxpayers paid triple for the forgeries at the Museum of the Bible.” Illicit Cultural Property Blog, 30 October.
Nongbri, Brent. “An Old Quote from Frank Moore Cross on Unprovenanced Artifacts.” Variant Readings, 30 October.
→ “The forged fragments in the Museum of the Bible collection managed to deceive two of the most respected specialists in the field: Emanuel Tov (editor of the volume) and Ada Yardeni (the palaeographic expert who inspected each of the pieces). This fact, I think, says something about the state of the discipline of Hebrew palaeography.”
Mazza, Roberta. “Open letter to Brill: Fake and unprovenanced manuscripts.” Faces&Voices, 5 November.
Schiffman, Lawrence. “Buyer Beware! How Forged Dead Sea Scrolls Were Exposed by High-Tech Tests.” Ami Magazine, 7 November.
→ “[M]any if not all of these 70 fragments are almost certainly modern forgeries.”
→ “Frankly, by the time the museum opened in November of 2017, I was convinced that some if not all of their fragments were forgeries.”
→ “I myself served as an advisor to Azusa Pacific University, an Evangelical school in California, and we received what appeared to be completely appropriate documents of authenticity as well as confirmation from a leading scholar who had investigated and transcribed the fragments.”
“Azusa Pacific University vs. Lee Raffaele Biondi, et al.” Docketalarm, 20 November–.
Navarro, Beatriz. “El misterio de las biblias ‘fake’.” La Vanguardia, 25 November.
Draper, Robert. “Inside the cloak-and-dagger search for sacred texts.” National Geographic, 27 November.
→ “In 1967, during the Arab-Israeli Six Day War, Israeli intelligence officers seized the Temple Scroll from Kando’s home, claiming it as government property. After the incident Kando reportedly started furtively moving his remaining scroll fragments to relatives in Lebanon and later to a bank vault in Switzerland…. ‘Steve Green came to see me many times,’ William Kando tells me through a cloud of cigarette smoke the morning we meet in his Jerusalem shop. ‘He’s an honest man, a good Christian. He offered me $40 million for my Genesis fragment. I refused. Some people say it is priceless.’
Green, through a spokesperson, says Kando set the price at $40 million, and he opted not to purchase it. Instead he bought more affordable scroll fragments.
The merchant offers me more coffee, then fumbles through a ledger. ‘Here, you can see,’ he says, pointing to a notation that he had sold seven Dead Sea Scroll fragments to Green in May 2010.”
→ “Kando indignantly denies that his family sold inauthentic fragments, suggesting that any forgeries must have come from less reputable dealers. Green, for his part, seems philosophical about his prize acquisitions. ‘You would hope it would be different in the biblical world,’ he says. ‘But as it turns out, like in any other business, there are some shady people just trying to make a buck. All you can do is learn from your mistakes and not do business with them anymore.’”
Navarro, Beatriz. “Los evangélicos buscaban credibilidad pero la han perdido.” La Vanguardia, 27 November.
→ Interview with Michael Langlois
→ “La primera reacción del Museo de la Biblia de Washington cuando, en febrero del 2016, el profesor Michael Langlois les contactó para advertirles que sus fragmentos de los manuscritos del Mar Muerto podían ser una falsificación y pedirles poder examinar unas fotografías de alta resolución no fue muy positiva. ‘Emanuel Tov, que era el editor del libro que preparaban sobre el tema, me dijo que la gente ahí no estaba muy interesada en averiguar si eran falsos’, explica Langlois….”
→ “… muchas falsificaciones parecen haberse vendido por William Kando. Pero esto debe ser confirmado por los coleccionistas, que hasta ahora son reacios a facilitar esa información. Y aunque se confirme, no significa que Kando sea el falsificador. Él mismo podría haber sido engañado por falsificadores que le pidieron que vendiera sus supuestos manuscritos del Mar Muerto. Si este es el caso, podría decirnos quién se lo propuso. Esperemos que un investigador, de la policía o la prensa, llegue algún día hasta el fondo del asunto.”
→ Concerning the frgs belonging to Azusa Pacific and Southwestern Theological Seminary: “He visto fotografías de algunos de ellos. No suelen ser muy buenas pero puedo reconocer la escritura del mismo falsificador en varios de ellos.”
Francq, Isabelle. “Les faussaires de la Bible [The Forgers of the Bible].” La vie, 5 December.
“SWBTS Dead Sea Scrolls.” Tandy Institute for Archaeology. No date.
→ “History of the SWBTS Collection”
→ “Research
→ “Publications“
2019
Langlois, Michael. “Les faussaires de la Bible: Les manuscrits de la mer morte, entre contrefaçons et instrumentalisation [The Forgers of the Bible: Dead Sea Scrolls Between Counterfeits and Instrumentalisation].” Lecture given at École Biblique et Archéologique, 17 January.
Harash, Rinat and Ari Rabinovitch. “A new generation takes up the hunt for Dead Sea Scrolls.” Reuters, 19 January.
→ “‘In the last few years we noticed new pieces of scrolls and parchments arrive on the black market,’ said Oren Gutfeld, an archaeologist at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. ‘It drove us to return to the caves,’ ….”
Justnes, Årstein, and Josephine Munch Rasmussen. “The Post-2002 Fragments and the Scholars Who Turned Them Into Dead Sea Scrolls.” The Ancient Near East Today 7.2 (February).
Bach, Melissa Sayyad, Søren Holst, and Jesper Høgenhaven. “Forfalskede Dødehavsruller i omløb? [Counterfeit Dead Sea Scrolls in circulation?]” TEOL-information 59: 14–17.
“Dead Sea Scroll Detectives: New technologies unravel the Dead Sea Scrolls’ mysteries and uncover million-dollar fakes.” NOVA, premiered 6 November.
Brooke, George J. “The Material Culture of the Dead Sea Scrolls.” Lecture 2 of “The Dead Sea Scrolls as Archaeological Artefacts.” Schweich Lectures on Biblical Archaeology, The British Academy. London, 12 November.
→ Part 6: On provenance and forgery [from 53:04-]
Lunde, Anders Firing, Nikolai Melamed Kleivan, and Christian Belqaux. “Dramaet om dødehavsrullene [The Drama about the Dead Sea Scrolls].” Morgenbladet, 20 December.
→ Interview with Torleif Elgvin, with comments from Weston Fields, Lenny Wolfe, and Martin Schøyen.
Kleivan, Nikolai Melamed, and Anders Firing Lunde. “– Vi må snu hver stein [– We need to turn every stone].” Morgenbladet, 20 December.
→ Interview with Årstein Justnes
2020
Greshko, Michael. “Exclusive: ‘Dead Sea Scrolls’ at the Museum of the Bible Are All Forgeries.” National Geographic, 13 March.
→ With comments from Colette Loll, Årstein Justnes, Jeffrey Kloha, Abigail Quandt, Michael Sharpe, William Noah, James H. Charlesworth, and Christopher Rollston.
→ “[William] Noah and [Michael] Sharpe both say that leading scholars threw their support behind the fragments. Records provided by Nat Des Marais, Sharpe’s former business partner, say that Dead Sea Scrolls scholar James Charlesworth, who retired from the Princeton Theological Seminary in 2019, helped validate the Genesis fragment’s authenticity. In an email, Charlesworth noted that when he described the fragment to other scholars in the past, he reported that it was probably authentic but not from the same time and place as the Dead Sea Scrolls found in Qumran. But after another look at a picture of the fragment, Charlesworth voiced fresh skepticism. ‘I am bothered by the handwriting; it now seems to be suspicious,’ he says. Charlesworth also says he has seen pieces of blank, ancient leather in circulation.‘ In the past, when I told the Bedouin that a piece was worthless because it had no writing, I inadvertently suggested how to make it valuable,’ he says.”
Nongbri, Brent. “Report: All the ‘Dead Sea Scrolls’ at the Museum of the Bible Are Fakes.” Variant Readings, 13 March.
Langlois, Michael. “‘Dead Sea Scrolls’ at the Museum of the Bible are all forgeries: Interview for National Geographic.” Michael Langlois, 15 March.
Museum of the Bible. “A Journey for the Truth: Investigating the Recent Dead Sea Scrolls Fragments.” 13(?) March. The part “Objects with Incomplete Provenance” was added 2 April.
Museum of the Bible. “Dead Sea Scroll Conference Has Been Postponed.” 14 March.
Burke, Daniel. “How forgers fooled the Bible museum with fake Dead Sea Scroll fragments.” CNN, 15 March.
Luscombe, Richard. “‘Dead Sea Scrolls fragments’ at Museum of the Bible are all fakes, study says.” The Guardian, 16 March.
“Fragments of Dead Sea Scrolls Determined to Be Forgeries.” PRI Public Radio International, 17 March.
Rollston, Christopher. “The Forger Among Us: The Museum of the Bible Dead Sea Scrolls and the Recent History of Epigraphic Forgeries.” Rollston Epigraphy: Ancient Inscriptions from the Levantine World, 15 March.
→ “… forgers of, dealers of, and owners of forged antiquities often seek out scholars whom they believe will ‘authenticate’ their finds. Along these lines, forgers, dealers, and owners know which scholars most frequently ‘authenticate’ inscriptions (including some forgeries) from the Antiquities Market and they especially seek out the opinions of those scholars (because they want their own inscriptions to be authenticated).
Similarly, forgers, dealers, and owners will often approach scholars whom they know do not work with epigraphic remains, but are rather ‘text scholars’ (i.e., scholars who mostly work with edited texts rather than the actual physical objects…and so these scholars do not intimately know the look and feel of something which is actually ancient).”
→ “I believe that the forger worked primarily alone, but could have included a paid friend or associate who had at least a high-school level knowledge of chemistry (these forgeries are not sophisticated enough to have included the assistance of a trained scholar in chemistry).”
Cascone, Sarah. “‘It’s the First Domino’: After the Museum of the Bible Discovered Its Dead Sea Scrolls Are Fake, the Field Braces for More Revelations.” artnet news, 16 March.
→ “Since the new artifacts appeared on the market, institutions and private collectors have spent somewhere between $35 million and $45 million to purchase them” (Lawrence Schiffman)
David, Ariel. “After Dead Sea Forgeries Exposed, How Do We Know the Scrolls in Israel Are Authentic?.” Haaretz, 16 March.
→ With comments from Årstein Justnes and Pnina Shor.
Katz, Brigit. “All of the Museum of the Bible’s Dead Sea Scrolls Are Fake, Report Finds.” Smithsonian Magazine, 16 March.
Museum of the Bible. “MOTB – Dead Sea Scroll Symposium 2020.” YouTube, 17 March.
→ Welcome: Jeff Kloha. Introduction: Mike Holmes. Overview: Colette Loll and Abigail Quandt.
Respondents: 1. Greg Bearman via ZOOM. 2. Christopher Rollston. 3. Kipp Davis. 4. Sidnie White Crawford.
Conclusion and discussion, featuring Lawrence Schiffman.
Thompson, Erin L. “The True Cost of Museum Fakes.” Hyperallergic, 26 March.
Govier, Gordon. “Fake Dead Sea Scrolls Displayed at Museum of the Bible: Updated exhibit will focus on forgery.” Christianity Today, 26 March.
→ “The forgeries will remain on display, with an updated exhibit that attempts to use the embarrassing situation as an educational opportunity.” See the comments by Jeffrey Kloha, the museum’s chief curatorial officer.
→ “[Christopher] Rollston hopes an investigative journalist will go to work on the scandal and find the perpetrator. He suspects it may be someone he knows, someone in the community of Dead Sea Scrolls experts, a trained scholar who perverted professional expertise to engage in criminal activity.”
Nongbri, Brent. “Fake Dead Sea Scrolls and the People Who Sell Them: One Fragment’s Story.” Variant Readings, March 27.
→ “It seems significant that some of the people involved in the circulation of the fake Dead Sea Scrolls (Lee Biondi and Andrew Stimer, to say nothing of Scott Carroll, the Green Family, and the Museum of the Bible) are also connected either to Professor Dirk Obbink or to the stolen Oxyrhynchus papyri. Even after the big report about the fakes at the Museum of the Bible, there are still lots of questions to answer here.”
Loll, Colette. “Ask Museum of the Bible: The Truth Shall Set You Free.” National Review, 28 March.
→ “The best way for collectors and institutions to guard against deception … is to insist on solid provenance documentation — that is, to know exactly where an artifact or a piece of art comes from. Requiring original readable signatures, complete contact information for previous owners, and verification of all statements made by sellers about who owned the art or artifact are just some of the necessary steps to ensure that an item has solid provenance and legitimate title and has been legally exported from its source country.”
“Southwestern Seminary Issues Statement on Dead Sea Scrolls Fragments, Archaeology Program.” Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 6 April.
→ “The Dead Sea Scrolls fragments were acquisitions of the prior administration. Because we have had very little confidence in their authenticity, the fragments have never been on public display since the arrival of the new seminary administration in February 2019. The fragments are in a secure location and have not been available to the general public in some years. The current administration’s lack of confidence in the fragments’ authenticity has been confirmed by an October 2018 report prepared for the seminary’s Board of Trustees by faculty associated with studying the collection. That report, which was recently provided to the current administration, found that by as early as 2016, some seminary faculty had become convinced at least some of the fragments were possible forgeries. More recently, the independent investigation of the Museum of the Bible’s Dead Sea Scrolls collection concluded its fragments were not authentic, which gives us even less confidence in our collection since they share a similar provenance to the MOTB collection. We would welcome an independent investigation of the seminary’s fragments, although the institution is unable to fund such an effort. And, given that significant institutional resources were expended on the acquisition and promotion of the likely fraudulent fragments, it is not prudent for the seminary to spend further precious funds on them. We are contemplating legal remedies to seek restitution of payments made by the seminary, as authorized by the prior administration.”
Nongbri, Brent. “Statement on the So-Called Dead Sea Scrolls of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.” Variant Readings, 8 April.
→ “As far as I know, this is the first public suggestion that any of the purchasers of fake Dead Sea Scrolls might seek redress in the courts.”
“A Journey for the Truth: Investigating the Recent Dead Sea Scrolls Fragments.” Museum of the Bible, April.
Loll, Colette. “Modern Forgeries: The Scientific Analysis of Dead Sea Scroll Fragments in the Museum of the Bible Collection.” Paper presented at the Dead Sea Scrolls in Modern Scholarship conference at the New York University, 19 May.
Kersel, Morag. “The Archaeological Origin Stories of Dead Sea Scrolls.” Paper presented at the On the Origin of the Pieces conference at the University of Agder, 15 June.
Govier, Gordon . “Where Are the Other Fake Fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls?” Christianity Today, 23 November.
→ “Mark Lanier thinks if you were going to fake a fragment of the Dead Sea Scrolls to sell to an unsuspecting evangelical collector, you wouldn’t pick Amos 7:17. … Except maybe that’s exactly what a forger … would want you to think.”
→ “It [The Museum of the Bible] launched a new exhibit displaying the forgeries in October, which tells the story of one of the most amazing archaeological discoveries of the 20th century—and a still-unfolding story of greed and deception.”
→ “Azusa Pacific University has concluded the five fragments it bought for $1.3 million are probably not authentic. The school is suing the book dealer who brokered the sale.”
Silliman, Daniel. “How to Fake a Fragment of the Dead Sea Scrolls.” Christianity Today, 30 November.
→ Interview with prof. Christopher Rollston
→ “[The Dead Sea Scroll forgeries at the Museum of the Bible] are sophisticated forgeries, and I think they’re from a senior scholar with a lot of experience.”
2021
Schwartz, Madeleine. “False Prophets: How to Forge a Dead Sea Scrolls.” Harper’s Magazine, 16 February
→ With comments and quotes from Abigail Quandt, Jennifer L. Mass, Kipp Davis and Årstein Justnes.
McDowell, Sean. “The Facts Behind the New Dead Sea Scrolls Discovery.” YouTube, 2 April.
→ Interview with Craig Evans
→ “There’s been scandals. You’ve probably been hearing about the last few years – it’s embarrassing – there’s been schools that purchased fragments, supposedly from Qumran, … and it’s ancient leather but it’s modern ink. And, you know, they’ve been swindled” (12:56–13:14).
→ “They thought they were purchasing fragments of biblical books, … fragments that were 2000 years old – no, they’re not, the leather is but not the writing. [It] was done 20 years ago … so it’s integrity and so let’s have people that know what they’re doing, who are responsible, not looters, not swindlers, not frauds …” (13:20–13:43).
Collington, Faefyx. “F for Fake: How Fake Dead Sea Scrolls Pushed Homophobia.” Into, 10 August.
2023
Tigey, Chanan. “How an Unorthodox Scholar Uses Technology to Expose Biblical Forgeries.” Smithsonian Magazine, January/February.
McDowell, Sean. “New Facts About the Dead Sea Scrolls Fragments.” YouTube, 31 January.
→ Interview with Craig Evans
→ “And so, oh my gosh! And, I mean, people got fired! There’s been lawsuits initiated! ‘We want money back!’ I mean, it’s getting to be quite a deal. And, again, for legal reasons I’m not going to name names. I’m not going to get into it. Sure, I have cautioned a few people: ‘You know, you might be suing somebody for selling you an authentic fragment, so be careful. Oh my goodness! You can end up getting counter sued!’ Check it out” [5:34–5:58].
→ “Now, here’s what happened, Sean. I’ve been appointed to the Dead Sea Scrolls Foundation Board. I’m a board member of the Dead Sea Scrolls Foundation. And, the Chairman of the Board is Weston Fields—he’s been operating this thing for 30 years. Its basic function is to raise money for Dead Sea Scrolls scholarship, okay? … So, anyway, I’m discussing this—this was the number one business item in our meeting at the Society of Biblical Literature Meeting just last November in Denver. And, I said, ‘Let’s get updated on these fragments.’ And then, he said, ‘Oh!’ He says, ‘They’re all wrong(?). These are authentic. They came from Kando’s box of fragments that he keeps in Switzerland. There’s no question they’re authentic.’ And, I said, ‘Yeah, but, Weston, what about this evidence of the ink jumping the cracks, right? Going over pieces of dirt stuck on the leather?’ And, so on. And, he told me: he said, ‘All of the scrolls are that way’” [5:59–7:34].
→ “So, no one’s claiming the leather it[self] was made 20 or 30 years ago; they’re all agreeing it’s very old leather, and they can’t tell the leather of the new fragments—the recently published fragments—from from the leather of the original fragments. So, that’s not the issue; it’s when the [ink was] applied, and if the so-called evidence that says this ink was applied 20 years ago instead of 2,000 years ago—if the evidence indicates that it is in fact applied a long time ago I think that settles it. I think then, you know, how can anybody say they’re fakes? How can anybody say they’re modern? And, I think that ends it, and then legally you got to settle it; got to figure out, you know, apologise for suing somebody for the wrong reason, I guess” [19:45–20:33].
→ “I’ve spoken to a handful of people; I spoke to some people at Southwestern out of personal concern, because I know those people, and I just—I’m not going to name any names—but, I said, ‘Please, slow down and talk to Weston Fields, because I [would] hate for you—not just the embarrassment question, but you could be counter sued if it turned out that the brokers sold you, in good faith, fragments that turn out to be genuine, and you’re suing?’”
…
“But, —*unintelligible*— fake, and demanding money back you could be incurring a lot of embarrassment, legal [fees, and a] countersuit. So, I think this is a case where we just have to get the facts straight; have some good grace about it, and apologise, and move on. Now, Weston did tell me he was aware that there might have been one or two attempts to create a fake. He didn’t tell me which texts they were, or who has them. But, he says the vast majority—and possibly all of them!—are genuine” [21:07–22:19].
Based on transcription by Kipp Davis
Davis, Kipp. “Dead Sea Scrolls Forgeries in Private Collections: A Response to Craig A. Evans and Sean McDowell.” YouTube. 8 February.
Zeitlin, Alex. “?סערה בעולם הארכיאולוגיה: מי זייף את מקטעי מגילות ים המלח [Storm in the world of archaeology: who forged fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls?]” Globes, 2 March.
History Valley. “Forged Dead Sea Scrolls | Dr. Kipp Davis.” Youtube, 13 April.
Davis, Kipp. “‘These Things Are Written That You Might Believe’.” Youtube, 4 May.
The Lying Pen of Scribes 
[…] the blog The Lying Pen of Scribes, Post-2002 Dead Sea Scrolls-like Fragments Online: A (Really Exhausting) Guide for the Perplexed. Let me just say this is my new favorite blog, if only for the name. It is administered by the […]
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[…] Lying Pen of the Scribes has a growing index of online information about “post-2002 Dead Sea Scrolls-like […]
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[…] suggests these caves in the Judean desert may well be a source for ancient writing surfaces used by people forging Dead Sea Scrolls, like those recently removed from display at the Museum of the […]
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[…] I have not followed the controversy closely so I do not know how it has been verified that it is a fake. You can see his site for “Post-2002 Dead Sea Scrolls-like Fragments Online: A (Really Exhausting) Guide for the Perplexed.” […]
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[…] inspiration from the very useful collection of data on post-2002 “Dead Sea Scrolls” at the blog of the Lying Pen of Scribes project and a list of known Green Collection manuscripts posted to Twitter by David Bradnick. In light of […]
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Yeah. that’s what I was exploring for.. thanks. Jillana Waldo Dulcine
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