Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Looters using the Copper Scroll?

BUSTED! Antiquities officials catch thieves in ancient cave: Five would-be tomb robbers apprehended at a 2,000-year-old site near the city of Modi’in. I'm glad they were caught, but this is disquieting:
The men, West Bank Palestinians, were apprehended after a scuffle with antiquities inspectors early Saturday, according to the statement. They had been spotted scouring the site with a metal detector, and are suspected of looting other sites in the same area near the city of Modi’in.

Among those sites was one given a cryptic mention in the Copper Scroll, one of the Dead Sea Scrolls, as a possible location for the burial of the treasures of the Jewish Temple. According to the Antiquities Authority, that mention has made the site a popular target for thieves.
I don't know why I'm surprised that looters would try using the Copper Scroll to locate treasure, but I am. It's not going to help them any, but the problem is the damage they do to sites while trying.

Another dubious use of the Copper Scroll was noted here last year. And for more serious discussion of the Scroll and some related material, see here and here.