Dead Sea Scroll fakes exposed

All of the Museum of the Bible’s Dead Sea Scroll fragments are modern forgeries. The Washington, D.C., museum on Friday said a group of independent researchers confirmed the 16 pieces fooled collectors and leading scholars into thinking they were among the oldest known surviving copies of the Bible. While the leather may be old, the writing is likely modern, National Geographic reported.

How did they find out? The museum, founded by the Green family that owns the retail chain Hobby Lobby, has sponsored research on the pieces since 2017 and found five of the fragments were forgeries in 2018. It’s still unclear how the forgers managed to make such convincing fakes. The Dead Sea Scrolls are real, and most of their 10,000 fragments are at a museum in Jerusalem.

Dig deeper: Read reports by WORLD about the problems the Museum of the Bible has had with smuggled or fake artifacts.