Feels like the IAA is saying *TAKE THAT, MOSES SHAPIRA*
haaretz.com/archaeology/.p…
To be clear, these new find is *not* from Qumran -- it consists of fragments of a slightly later Bar Kokhba scroll from Wadi Murabba'at (Nahal Darga) to the south. Image
The find was part of the operation started in 2017 to survey the Judean Desert.

What Haaretz doesn't tell us -- it's only hinted at by the reference to the Civil Administration -- is that most of the Judean Desert, including Murabba'at, is in the West Bank. Image
The Times of Israel, whose report is on the whole better than Haaretz's, does makes it clear that most of the Judean Desert is in the West Bank.
(It doesn't specify about the findspot of the new fragments at Murabba'at, though.)
timesofisrael.com/bible-scroll-f… Image
ImageImage
The news reports make clear that the discoveries announced today are part of a large-scale survey project (with targeted excavation of specific caves) started in 2017. Image
There have been occasional references in news reports to this survey/excavation project, but the IAA has been fairly secretive about it before now.
(Here, from an article in January 2019)
Israeli work in the area of the Dead Sea caves (mostly in the West Bank) has for a long time been framed as a race against looters -- even though before now it seems like they always lost out by 60+ years
(See the thread here from 2019)
We see the same framing here too, coming right from the director of the IAA ("rescue . . . from the robbers' clutches), but now to request additional resources from the state
(This is from the press release) Image
And you can see it in the IAA promo video embedded in the Times of Israel story. Image
This promo video is remarkable, with production values unlike any I've ever seen for an IAA video: dramatic music (highlighting the drama, and the threat of looters specifically), voice actors, etc. Image
This reads like a nice multicultural sentiment, until you remember the project is taking place in the West Bank w/o regard for international law or Palestinian cooperation. Image
All of the news outlets report that since 2017 this project has surveyed "80 kilometers". Is this square kilometers? The news reports get it straight from the press release which uses the same phrase, unhelpfully. Image
If you're interested in more details on the scroll fragments themselves, and to see the promo video, read the Times of Israel piece.
timesofisrael.com/bible-scroll-f…
Meanwhile this might be my favorite part of the entire episode.
(The last several thousand years are just "the dust on the surface" as the late Ofer Bar-Yosef would say.)
Finally, as @ymiller419 points out, there's an election in Israel next week, so we can't rule out political influence on the timing of the announcement.
CORRECTION: I misread this; the scroll fragments are not from Wadi Murabba'at or elsewhere in the West Bank, but the "Cave of Horror" in Israel proper.
(Some of the other finds, like the prehistoric basket, come from Murabba'at)
Apologies.
For additional details of the finds -- and how the IAA and Israeli media are presenting them -- check out the Times of Israel's "Daily Briefing" podcast
timesofisrael.com/podcast-daily-…
Highlights:
The TOI journalist covering the story (A. Borschel-Dan) notes that the West Bank is occupied -- but then celebrates that the IAA and COGAT are working together:
“For the first time there are NO BORDERS, and they’re working together to prevent LOOTING”
If Borschel-Dan is accurately quoting the archaeologist, it's just bonkers.
First, the scroll fragments were found in a cave excavated in the 1950s -- even thought to be missing pieces of a scroll found then -- and yet were still there 60+ years later . . . Image
There's seriously know way they could know this.

Second, the countries around Israel all have stricter antiquities laws than Israel, and items are regularly smuggled *into* Israel in order to launder them for sale.
(You couldn't do this with a scroll fragment but still . . .) Image
More: Borschel-Dan reports the survey has covered about 500 caves so far, and (according to Amir Ganor, head of the IAA's robbery prevention unit) there is about 25 percent of the survey left to do.
This is Stage 1: survey with brief excavations in a few (previously dug?) caves
Stage 2 is "proper excavation" of about 20 caves that "look promising"
The goal (quoting or paraphrasing Ganor) is "to clean them out before the looters come"
The Guardian notes part of the problem with the survey project.
theguardian.com/world/2021/mar… Image
Ah yes, the old *we can ignore international law because the Green Line didn't exist in antiquity* defense
nytimes.com/2021/03/16/wor… Image
More details on the discoveries from the Times of Israel: some of those Borschel-Dan shared in the podcast and some new ones.
timesofisrael.com/dead-sea-scrol…
We're told of how the material in the Cave of Horror was found despite the fact it had already been excavated:
The scroll fragments were found in sifting Aharoni's leftover dirt.

But elsewhere the fragments have been reported as around 20, now it's 80? Or is this a typo? Image
The coins were found using metal detectors Image
Finally, here's how Borschel-Dan renders Uziel's quote (about if they had waited even 2 more weeks; see above) in this article.
As his fear, it's not the same bizarre claim but it's still sensationalist. (Any archaeologist might fear any site could be looted at any time.) Image
NPR's account gets into the politics and controversy of excavation in the West Bank (good) but is also a little puzzling.
h/t @mokersel
npr.org/2021/03/16/977…
One oddity: According to the article, Amir Ganor (head of the IAA's robbery prevention unit) said the IAA was alerted to the potential for more scrolls in the cave by the discovery of the "Jerusalem papyrus" -- except that this is very likely a forgery. Image
This makes me wonder: are *any* of these more recent appearances of scrolls on the market authentic? Image
If you're looking for more on the "Jerusalem papyrus", you might start with this thread:
The Jerusalem Post has a follow-up interview with two of the IAA archaeologists involved with the project.
h/t @rogueclassicist
jpost.com/archaeology/de…
Previously the Times of Israel reported that 75% of the survey area ("80 km") had been covered, including some 500 caves.
Now Eitan Klein tells JPost some 60-70% of the area covered (including about 600 caves) with "40 km" more to go. 🤔 Image
Again an IAA archaeologist repeats that a goal (not "the" goal) is to save antiquities from looters, & we are told that archaeologists have found their remains -- in this survey, or in general? Did Klein say this?
(It's not helpful this isn't a direct quote & has no attribution) Image

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More from @MichaelDPress

18 Mar
A week after a settlement reached between Sotheby's, the Museum for Islamic Art in Jerusalem, & other parties regarding the cancelation of the museum's sale of objects, the museum's director announces he's leaving his position at the end of the month.
haaretz.com/israel-news/cu…
For background on the cancelation of the sale:
There's no suggestion from the article that Sheiban's resignation is directly tied to the sale or its being cancelled, and his resignation letter frame things quite differently, but the article does notes that the saga "cast a pall over Sheiban’s tenure as museum director" Image
Read 5 tweets
10 Mar
Special #ShapiraBookClub edition:
James Tabor with an interesting but ultimately discouraging post on Shapira's Deuteronomy strips
jamestabor.com/moses-shapira-…
h/t @ReligionProf
What's discouraging is that scholars continue to publicly pronounce that they think blatant forgeries might be genuine & that we need to keep having pointless debates about them for decades.
Here, not just Tabor but archaeologist Shimon Gibson. Image
Look who else think Shapira's Deuteronomy was authentic @arsteinjustnes Image
Read 36 tweets
12 Feb
Happy to say that my review of Veritas, and the saga of the “Gospel of Jesus’s Wife” forgery, is now published at @TheTLS.
the-tls.co.uk/articles/verit…
(Note: As usual, the author was not responsible for the title or the lead photo.)
Thanks to @arsteinjustnes @LivLied @papyrologyatman @dana_lande and the rest of the Lying Pen of Scribes project for discussing this book with me.
(But be sure not to blame them for anything in the review itself!)
Read 35 tweets
11 Feb
Reports of damage by Palestinian road work to Mt. Ebal -- in Area B of the West Bank.
What's actually going on here? Let's take a look . . .
jpost.com/archaeology/jo…
The only English reports I've seen are from right-wing Israeli media, which emphasize the outrage among conservative members of the Knesset and settler organizations.
The best report is from Haaretz, in Hebrew only so far.
(Typically Haaretz publishes these reports in Hebrew first & then translates them into English, so we may see an English version soon.)
haaretz.co.il/news/local/.pr…
Read 18 tweets
4 Oct 20
I have a research project on the antiquities market in Jerusalem in the late 19th century and am now seriously regretting not starting in the mid-20th century instead.

Amazing thread (& folder posted by the IAA), may be of interest @arsteinjustnes
Anyone know what happened to the Zion Research Library ("a nonsectarian Protestant library for the study of the Bible and the history of the Christian Church") of Brookline Massachusetts & its Dead Sea Scroll jar? @MaterializingB
Also thanks to @DrTermagant for pointing out how the Order of St. John in Belfast wanted a copy of Godfrey of Bouillon's sword from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. And that they got it.
Read 5 tweets
2 Oct 20
"After seeing the pyramid, all other architecture seems but pastry."
Herman Melville at Giza (Journal Of A Visit To Europe And The Levant 1856-1857) Image
"The tearing away of the casing, though it removed enough stone to build a walled-town, has not subtracted from its apparent magnitude. It has had the contrary effect." Image
In January 1857 Melville makes it to Palestine.
"A delightful ride across Plain of Sharon [really plain of Philistia] to Jaffa. Quantities of red poppies." Image
Read 11 tweets

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