//How forgers fooled the Bible museum with fake Dead Sea Scroll fragments

How forgers fooled the Bible museum with fake Dead Sea Scroll fragments

Last year, the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., said five of its most valuable artifacts — once thought to be part of the historic Dead Sea Scrolls — were fake.Now the museum is facing a harder truth: All of its 16 expensive fragments are forgeries.This weekend, at a conference in Washington scrambled by the coronavirus pandemic, experts released a 200-page report revealing how the forgeries fooled scholars and buyers on the antiquities market.”After an exhaustive review of all the imaging and scientific analysis results, it is evident that none of the textual fragments in Museum of the Bible’s Dead Sea Scroll collection are authentic,” said the leader of the investigation, Colette Loll, the director of Art Fraud Insights, in a statement.”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.”The findings were originally