Dead Sea Scrolls at museum are forgeries

Thursday, March 19th, 2020

Sixteen fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls at Washington DC Museum of the Bible are forgeries, the museum has discovered.

The fragments have been on exhibit at the museum since its opening in 2017.

The scroll fragments were purchased after 2002, when counterfeits of artifacts believed to be part of the 1947 Dead Sea Discovery entered the antiquities market.

Experts began questioning the fragments’ authenticity in 2016.

In February 2019, the museum hired the investigators from a firm called Art Fraud Insights to inspect the remaining 11 scrolls.

Comprehensive imaging, analysis, and physical examinations of the artifacts were undertaken.

“After an exhaustive review of all the imaging and scientific analysis results, it is evident that none of the textual fragments in the Museum of the Bible’s Dead Sea Scroll collection are authentic,” Colette Loll, founder and director of Art Fraud Insights, says.

“Moreover, each exhibits characteristics that suggest they are deliberate forgeries created in the twentieth century with the intent to mimic authentic Dead Sea Scroll fragments.”

These findings have no bearing on the nearly 100,000 Dead Sea Scroll fragments that comprise the Shrine of the Book.

This is on display in the Israel Museum, Jerusalem.

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