October 31, 2016 | Leave a comment Most of us today are familiar with what has become collectively known as the Dead Sea Scrolls. Discovered between 1946 and 1956, in caves located just over one mile inland from the shore of the Dead Sea, in the modern day Palestinian territory of the West Bank, the scrolls are of great religious and historical importance. Roughly 40% of them are copies of texts from Hebrew Scripture. Some 30% are texts that do not appear in the Hebrew Bible, for example, the Book of Enoch, the Book of Tobit, Psalms 152-155, and the remainder are manuscripts that relate to particular Jewish sects, and mostly detail beliefs and rules. The Caves in Which The Scrolls Were Found However, what is less well known, is that one of the scrolls is unique, in that it is made of copper. All of the other scrolls were written on either parchment or papyrus. In addition, the copper scroll differs from the others in terms of its style, script, language and content. So much so, in fact, that it is thought to have been placed in the cave at a different time to the rest of the scrolls. The copper scroll was found on 14th March 1952, at the back of cave number three, and has been dated to between 25 CE and 100 CE, making it almost 2,000 years old. What has fascinated archaeologists and treasure hunters alike, however, is the information it contains. The scroll could not be unravelled like a parchment, and so in 1955, it was cut into 23 strips and reassembled. It was then possible to transcribe the Hebrew text. What became apparent was that this scroll was not a literary work, like the others, but a list. And what a list it turned out to be! The Copper Scroll The document listed directions to 64 locations, where vast quantities of treasure had been hidden. Most of the locations were described as having large deposits of silver and gold secreted at them, and the total inventory of the scroll would exceed a billion dollars at current values. The locations are quite specific, and presumably would have been well known to those contemporaneous with the production of the scroll. The following is an example of its contents: “Forty two talents lie under the stairs in the salt pit … Sixty five bars of gold lie on the third terrace in the cave of the old Washers House … Seventy talents of silver are enclosed in wooden vessels that are in the cistern of a burial chamber in Matia’s courtyard. Fifteen cubits from the front of the eastern gates, lies a cistern. The ten talents lie in the canal of the cistern … Six silver bars are located at the sharp edge of the rock which is under the eastern wall in the cistern. The cistern’s entrance in under the large paving stone threshold. Dig down four cubits in the northern corner of the pool that is east of Kohlit. There will be twenty two talents of silver coins.” Now, before you start making travel arrangements, let us consider the difficulties of a twenty first century treasure seeker. The scroll was produced in copper, presumably to aid its longevity. However, the locations given, assume a knowledge of long gone points of reference. If I were writing an explanation of where I had hidden something, specifically intended for interpretation in hundreds or thousands of years time, it wouldn’t be much use saying “I hid it under the stairs!” And yet, this is precisely what the author has done in this case. Much has been written about who hid the treasure, although as it is all pure conjecture, there is little point dwelling for too long on the subject. Suffice it to say that it is likely that the treasure came from either the First Jewish Temple, destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, or the Second Jewish Temple, that fell to the Romans. More pertinent to many today, however, is the question of where is it now? Without being able to identify any of the locations in the modern landscape, the task is a challenging one to say the least. Also, when one takes into account the fact that the treasure may have been looted, by either the Babylonians or the Romans, the chances of finding valuable hoards of silver and gold seem somewhat remote. Nonetheless, there are those who, for academic or financial reasons, seem prepared to have a go at finding it. An extensive search took place in 1962, without success. Many potential locations were excavated, but nothing was found. Subsequent searches have proved equally fruitless, although a few individuals have claimed to have made some minor finds, by using the scroll as a guide. However, considering that the site is of great antiquity, the likelihood of discovering small finds when carrying out excavations, must be quite high, and so to attribute such discoveries to the directions contained in the Copper Scroll, requires something of a leap of faith. But don’t let me put you off. If you fancy yourself as something of an Indiana Jones, you know where to go. Just remember your hat and sunscreen; it gets very hot down by the Dead Sea! Sources: http://www.ancient-origins.net/ancient-places-asia/lost-treasure-copper-scroll-001457 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Sea_Scrolls