The Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C. will no longer display five Dead Sea Scroll fragments after third-party researchers found the artifacts had “characteristics inconsistent with ancient origin.”
The museum hired German researchers in April 2017, to perform a series of tests on the Dead Sea Scroll fragments. The results raised suspicions of the authenticity of the fragments.
The Museum of the Bible has decided to pull the five fragments from an exhibit and replace them with three other fragments pending further study. It has also installed signs outlining the doubts of the artifacts’ authenticity and the importance of verifying a piece.
“Though we had hoped the testing would render different results, this is an opportunity to educate the public on the importance of verifying the authenticity of rare biblical artifacts, the elaborate testing process undertaken and our commitment to transparency,” Dr. Jeffrey Kloha, chief curatorial officer for Museum of the Bible, said in a news release.
This isn’t the first time the authenticity of the Museum of the Bible’s Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit has been questioned.
In October 2017, Dr. Kipp Davis at Trinity Western University in Langley, B.C. determined at least seven of the museum’s fragments were probably “modern forgeries.”
The Dead Sea Scrolls are ancient manuscripts discovered in the Qumran Caves of the West Bank in the 1940s. More than 100,000 fragments have been found, with some dating back more than 2,000 years.
