Friday, August 18, 2017

On nine dubious DSS fragments

IN DEAD SEA DISCOVERIES: Nine Dubious “Dead Sea Scrolls” Fragments from the Twenty-First Century. By Kipp Davis; Ira Rabin; Ines Feldman; Myriam Krutzsch; Hasia Rimon; Årstein Justnes6; Torleif Elgvin and Michael Langlois. Abstract:
In 2002 new “Dead Sea Scrolls” fragments began to appear on the antiquities market, most of them through the Kando family. In this article we will present evidence that nine of these Dead Sea Scrolls-like fragments are modern forgeries.
Prepublished on the Brill website. I'm not sure whether you need a subscription to read it the full text, but do read it if you can.

Also, the recent ISBL meeting Berlin had a session on "Tracing and Facing Possible Forgeries: Methodology, Ethics, Policies." It was livestreamed and you can watch the video at the International Organization for Qumran Studies (IOQS) page on Facebook.

For past posts on the new Dead Sea Scrolls fragments that have come to light in recent years and the question of their authenticity, see here and links.

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