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'Dead Sea Scrolls' at the Museum of the Bible Are All Forgeries (2020)

14 points by LopRabbit 3y ago

ProxCoques 3y ago
Good opportunity for a slightly-related joke: A Dublin tourist goes into an antique shop and sees a skull in a glass box. "Whose skull was that?" he asks. "To be sure it is the skull of Oscar Wilde." The man is amazed and buys it for a huge sum. Years later he returns to Dublin and visits the old antique shop again. Again he sees a skull in a glass box. "Who was that?" he asks. "That there is the skull of Oscar Wilde" says the shopkeeper. "It can't be. I bought his in this very shop some years ago!" exclaims the man. "Ah, to be sure that was his skull as a younger man!" replies the shopkeeper.
slater 3y ago
(2020)
LopRabbit 3y ago
https://archive.ph/AszGK https://archive.ph/AszGK
duxup 3y ago
Nova had a great show about how many fakes there are out there when it comes to the dead sea scrolls (including the Museum of the Bible): https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/dead-sea-scroll-detectives/ https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/dead-sea-scroll-detectiv... The intermediaries they go through to acquire these scraps of paper seem like total scam artists.
liesareshocking 3y ago
[flagged]
- adastra22 3y ago
  Victim blaming isn’t a good look, no matter who is the victim.
- bitbang 3y ago
  Not shocked that a biased commenter immediately tries to imply that MOTB is peddling lies without taking the time to find that the MOTB funded the research and analysis on suspicion of forgery and published the detailed report of the findings. https://www.museumofthebible.org/dead-sea-scroll-fragments https://www.museumofthebible.org/dead-sea-scroll-fragments https://museumofthebible.cdn.prismic.io/museumofthebible/8ee1c3b3-8398-481a-bc7a-4da593c38728_MOTB-DSS-Report-FINAL-web.pdf https://museumofthebible.cdn.prismic.io/museumofthebible/8ee...
- HanClinto 3y ago
  Rather uncharitable response if you read the article. > Loll insisted on independence. Not only would the Museum of the Bible have no say on the team’s findings, her report would be final—and would have to be released to the public. The Museum of the Bible agreed to the terms. “Honestly, I’ve never worked with a museum that was so up-front,” Loll says.
  - duxup 3y ago
    In the documentary I linked above the museum was up front about knowing they had some fakes and were continuing to investigate. They didn't have to appear in the documentary and admit some embarrassing missteps, but did and seemed up front about it.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
spking 3y ago
“The new findings don’t cast doubt on the 100,000 real Dead Sea Scroll fragments, most of which lie in the Shrine of the Book, part of the Israel Museum, Jerusalem. However, the report’s findings raise grave questions about the “post-2002” Dead Sea Scroll fragments, a group of some 70 snippets of biblical text that entered the antiquities market in the 2000s. Even before the new report, some scholars believed that most to all of the post-2002 fragments were modern fakes.”
morninglight 3y ago
Why would this surprise anyone? Paul Blanshard documented many fake "holy" religious relics from articles of clothing, pieces of the crucifix, even several foreskins of the savior. The religious con-artists have been plying their craft for a very long time. Blanshard's 2nd edition can be downloaded as a pdf here: https://ia600909.us.archive.org/2/items/AmericanFreedomAndCatholicPower/American%20Freedom%20and%20Catholic%20Power.pdf https://ia600909.us.archive.org/2/items/AmericanFreedomAndCa... ....
- trilbyglens 3y ago
  Some say prostitution is the oldest trade, but forging christian relics might be nearly as old. People were forging relics almost before Jesus's body was cold.
  - rickydroll 3y ago
    Crucifixion collectible collection, complete with a certificate of authenticity signed by Pontius Pilate himself.
    - taylodl 3y ago
      That made me smile! :)
  - morninglight 3y ago
    And now they are on eBay. https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p4432023.m570.l1313&_nkw=relic+true+cross&_sacat=0 https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p4432023.m... .

14 points by LopRabbit 3y ago

Good opportunity for a slightly-related joke: A Dublin tourist goes into an antique shop and sees a skull in a glass box. "Whose skull was that?" he asks. "To be sure it is the skull of Oscar Wilde." The man is amazed and buys it for a huge sum. Years later he returns to Dublin and visits the old antique shop again. Again he sees a skull in a glass box. "Who was that?" he asks. "That there is the skull of Oscar Wilde" says the shopkeeper. "It can't be. I bought his in this very shop some years ago!" exclaims the man. "Ah, to be sure that was his skull as a younger man!" replies the shopkeeper.

slater 3y ago

(2020)

LopRabbit 3y ago

https://archive.ph/AszGK https://archive.ph/AszGK

duxup 3y ago

Nova had a great show about how many fakes there are out there when it comes to the dead sea scrolls (including the Museum of the Bible): https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/dead-sea-scroll-detectives/ https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/dead-sea-scroll-detectiv... The intermediaries they go through to acquire these scraps of paper seem like total scam artists.

liesareshocking 3y ago

[flagged]

adastra22 3y ago
Victim blaming isn’t a good look, no matter who is the victim.
bitbang 3y ago
Not shocked that a biased commenter immediately tries to imply that MOTB is peddling lies without taking the time to find that the MOTB funded the research and analysis on suspicion of forgery and published the detailed report of the findings. https://www.museumofthebible.org/dead-sea-scroll-fragments https://www.museumofthebible.org/dead-sea-scroll-fragments https://museumofthebible.cdn.prismic.io/museumofthebible/8ee1c3b3-8398-481a-bc7a-4da593c38728_MOTB-DSS-Report-FINAL-web.pdf https://museumofthebible.cdn.prismic.io/museumofthebible/8ee...
HanClinto 3y ago
Rather uncharitable response if you read the article. > Loll insisted on independence. Not only would the Museum of the Bible have no say on the team’s findings, her report would be final—and would have to be released to the public. The Museum of the Bible agreed to the terms. “Honestly, I’ve never worked with a museum that was so up-front,” Loll says.
- duxup 3y ago
  In the documentary I linked above the museum was up front about knowing they had some fakes and were continuing to investigate. They didn't have to appear in the documentary and admit some embarrassing missteps, but did and seemed up front about it.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

spking 3y ago

“The new findings don’t cast doubt on the 100,000 real Dead Sea Scroll fragments, most of which lie in the Shrine of the Book, part of the Israel Museum, Jerusalem. However, the report’s findings raise grave questions about the “post-2002” Dead Sea Scroll fragments, a group of some 70 snippets of biblical text that entered the antiquities market in the 2000s. Even before the new report, some scholars believed that most to all of the post-2002 fragments were modern fakes.”

morninglight 3y ago

Why would this surprise anyone? Paul Blanshard documented many fake "holy" religious relics from articles of clothing, pieces of the crucifix, even several foreskins of the savior. The religious con-artists have been plying their craft for a very long time. Blanshard's 2nd edition can be downloaded as a pdf here: https://ia600909.us.archive.org/2/items/AmericanFreedomAndCatholicPower/American%20Freedom%20and%20Catholic%20Power.pdf https://ia600909.us.archive.org/2/items/AmericanFreedomAndCa... ....

trilbyglens 3y ago
Some say prostitution is the oldest trade, but forging christian relics might be nearly as old. People were forging relics almost before Jesus's body was cold.
- rickydroll 3y ago
  Crucifixion collectible collection, complete with a certificate of authenticity signed by Pontius Pilate himself.
  - taylodl 3y ago
    That made me smile! :)
- morninglight 3y ago
  And now they are on eBay. https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p4432023.m570.l1313&_nkw=relic+true+cross&_sacat=0 https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p4432023.m... .