Årstein Justnes and Josephine Munch Rasmussen on Post-2002 Forgeries

Årstein Justnes and Josephine Munch Rasmussen have posted an interesting and challenging article The Post-2002 Fragments and the Scholars Who Turned Them Into Dead Sea Scrolls on the ASOR blog. After retelling the problematic history of the modern forgery of Dead Sea Scroll like fragments, they challenge the field of scholars who participated in this process, arguing that the scholars involved did not do due diligence and contributed to the creation and expansion of the market.

Kipp Davis on Forged Dead Sea Scrolls

Kipp Davis gives brief reflections on his work on modern Dead Sea Scrolls-like forgeries. He rehearses some of the evidence that led him to conclude that at least some of the fragments in private collections are forgeries, as well as providing cautious warnings about overzealous antiquities collectors in a market supplied by opportunists. For my own thoughts on probable modern forgeries, see my review of the Museum of the Bible Dead Sea Scrolls volume.

Lugano Research Seminar on the History of the Caves of Qumran

I just returned from Lugano, Switzerland from a Research Seminar on the History of the Caves of Qumran on 20-21 February. The conference was well-attended, and was heavily dominated by discussions of the archaeology and interrelationships between the caves and the settlement of Qumran, which was very helpful for those more text-focused like me. Two text highlights are worthy of note.

1) Yonatan Adler announced the discovery of 9 (possibly 10) previously unknown tefillin slips found inside of unopened tefillin cases from Qumran. The slips have not yet been opened and read, but they promise to be very interesting.

2) Torleif Elgvin flattened out three leather fragments from the Schøyen collection he had considered to be uninscribed to find two fragmentary lines matching the known text of 4Q252 (Commentary on Genesis A). He suggested that this may be a second copy of this commentary.

We eagerly anticipate the full publication of these exciting discoveries!