Well , this is awkward . The Museum of the Bible in Washington has had to publish astatementadmitting that at least five fragments in its Dead Sea Scroll appeal are believably forgery .
A spokesperson announced on Monday that five of the museum ’s 16 fragments had to be removed from the display after the results of an analysis last April found they are most likely fake . test on the " roll " were do by German - base company Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung , who used 3D digital microscopy and hug drug - ray fluorescence ( XRF ) as well as substantial analysis of the ink , sediment layer , and chemical nature of the sediment to determine their origins .
" My subject area to date have managed to substantiate upon a preponderance of unlike streams of evidence the in high spirits probability that at least seven fragments in the museum ’s Dead Sea Scrolls collection are modern counterfeit , but conclusions on the condition of the remaining fragments are still forthcoming,“saidKipp Davis , an expert on the Dead Sea Scrolls at Trinity Western University in Canada who examined the scroll fragments .
It wo n’t be welcome newsworthiness for Steve Green , the evangelistic craft fund billionaire whose family institute and own the museum . Green has n’t revealed precisely how much the menage shelled out for the Dead Sea Scroll fragment ( the stars of the $ 500 - million museum ’s entire aggregation ) but others have pay in the millions for interchangeable snip of the ancient school text . Last year , US custom seized5,500 ancient artifacts illegally looted from Iraqand smuggled into the US , bought by Green under the family line ’s society , Hobby Lobby , for $ 1.6 million , all of which had to be returned to Iraq .
The Dead Sea Scrolls are thought to be some of the honest-to-god go Judeo - Christian schoolbook , with atomic number 6 see suggesting some aremore than 2,000 years sometime . In total , around 1,200 or so ms – from tiny fragments to complete books from the Old Testament – have been found in the caves surround the Dead Sea since 1945 . Before then , the early , most everlasting adaptation of the Hebrew Bible ( the Aleppo Codex ) dated to the tenth C CE .
" Though we had hoped the testing would render different results , this is an opportunity to educate the public on the grandness of verify the legitimacy of rare scriptural artefact , the luxuriant testing process undertake and our commitment to transparency , " chief curatorial officer for Museum of the Bible Jeffrey Kloha said in astatement .
" As an educational institution entrusted with ethnical inheritance , the museum upholds and adheres to all museum and honourable guideline on collection care , research , and display . "
The museum has said the removed fragments will be replaced by three other fragments – but first , these will have to undergo their own testing to prove their legitimacy .
