One of these pictures shows the genuine Habakkuk Pesher (or commentary), one of the best preserved of the 2,000-year-old Dead Sea Scrolls that were found in the caves above Qumran in 1947. The other shows a modern reproduction of the same scroll. Can you tell which is which?
Before we give away the answer, you should know how (and why) such an exact replica of the Habakkuk Pesher was made—and, no, it’s not an illegal forgery.
A few years ago, a Dead Sea Scroll exhibit was announced for Seoul, South Korea. The organizers had anticipated that the featured scrolls would be loaned from the Israel Museum and the Israel Antiquities Authority. But when their loan request was denied only months before the exhibit’s opening, the organizers had to think of an alternative to displaying the genuine scrolls—and quickly.
With the help of Weston Fields, director of the Dead Sea Scrolls Foundation in Jerusalem, the Korean organizers decided to have exact replicas of three scrolls—the Isaiah Scroll, the Manual of Discipline and the Habakkuk Pesher—made for the exhibit. But who could they possibly get to reproduce museum-quality replicas of the ancient manuscripts?
Fields turned to Michael and Linda Falter, owners of Facsimile Editions, a small London-based company that specializes in producing high-quality, exacting reproductions of ancient and medieval manuscripts. Using scans of the original photographs taken of the scrolls by John Trever soon after their discovery,a the Falters were able 015to reproduce digitally not only the precise shapes and sizes of the scrolls’ ancient lettering, but also the various cracks, tears, frayed edges, holes and blemishes in the original scroll parchments. The facsimiles were then printed on special paper that allowed the Falters to match precisely the feel and texture of the scrolls, right down to the buckling and warping of the parchment. Different parchment sheets were even sewed together with specially dyed linen thread to replicate the stitching that binds the actual scrolls together.
The exhibition organizers in Seoul were, of course, happy with the Falters’ reproductions and went on to have a successful scroll exhibit in 2007. Subsequently, one of the scroll replicas was even purchased from the Koreans by the British Library for their Hebrew collection, and the Falters’ have now produced several dozen new sets of scroll replicas for sale to libraries, museums and collectors.
So which scroll pictured here is the real deal? The actual Habakkuk scroll is shown at upper left with the reproduction below it. If you’re still not convinced, you can certainly check by ordering your own set of replicas. But don’t get too excited by the prospect. Facsimile Editions has priced their repca edition of the Dead Sea Scrolls at $60,000.
One of these pictures shows the genuine Habakkuk Pesher (or commentary), one of the best preserved of the 2,000-year-old Dead Sea Scrolls that were found in the caves above Qumran in 1947. The other shows a modern reproduction of the same scroll. Can you tell which is which?
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