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posted by CoolHand on Tuesday October 11 2016, @05:18PM   Printer-friendly
from the we-discover-dead-things dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

More than 25 previously unpublished "Dead Sea Scroll" fragments, dating back 2,000 years and holding text from the Hebrew Bible, have been brought to light, their contents detailed in two new books.

The various scroll fragments record parts of the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Samuel, Ruth, Kings, Micah, Nehemiah, Jeremiah, Joel, Joshua, Judges, Proverbs, Numbers, Psalms, Ezekiel and Jonah. The Qumran caves ― where the Dead Sea Scrolls were first discovered ― had yet to yield any fragments from the Book of Nehemiah; if this newly revealed fragment is authenticated it would be the first.

Scholars have expressed concerns that some of the fragments are forgeries. [See Photos of the Dead Sea Scrolls Fragments]

These 25 newly published fragments are just the tip of the iceberg. A scholar told Live Science that around 70 newly discovered fragments have appeared on the antiquities market since 2002. Additionally, the cabinet minister in charge of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), along with a number of scholars, believes that there are undiscovered scrolls that are being found by looters in caves in the Judean Desert. The IAA is sponsoring a new series of scientific surveys and excavations to find these scrolls before looters do.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 11 2016, @06:45PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 11 2016, @06:45PM (#413047)
    In case you hadn't noticed, Israel captured the West Bank (including the Judean desert) in 1967. Plus, inhospitable desert is inhospitable.
  • (Score: 2) by JNCF on Tuesday October 11 2016, @08:10PM

    by JNCF (4317) on Tuesday October 11 2016, @08:10PM (#413092) Journal

    In case you hadn't noticed, Israel captured the West Bank (including the Judean desert) in 1967.

    A random wiki site [wikivoyage.org] describes the city of Arad as follows, without any attribution: "Arad - the only city in the Judean desert outside the Palestinian territories, located on the border of the Negev"

    This implies to me that there are other cities in the desert, and they are in Palestinian territories. I'll gladly admit ignorance of Canaanite geography, but if you want to convince me that Israel has already captured the entire Judean desert you'll have to find a less sketchy source than the random wiki I just googled. That shouldn't be hard, if you're correct. I do not take it for granted that the Judean desert is a strict subset of the West Bank.

    Plus, inhospitable desert is inhospitable.

    You underestimate humans. As per above, the desert appears to have cities in it.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 12 2016, @09:25AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 12 2016, @09:25AM (#413363)

      As per above, the desert appears to have cities in it.

      Abandoned cities which predate desert. Climate change, extensive goat husbandry and destruction of bronze-age water capture and irrigation systems led to destruction of topsoil flora and subsequent desertification. Humanity could snatch many thousands of square miles of arable land from world deserts if only we would put an effort to recreate water management structures which used to exist in ancient times, ... and forbid cattle in these areas.