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Originally Posted by Wormius
Sorry, my question was just whether similar scroll content could/should/would be considered as coming from the same piece of parchment; for example, texts concerning Abraham all have the identical carbon dating results as any other texts about Abraham, or is there no guarantee that a fragment of the DSS brought in should be identical in nature to others.
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Okay, I think I understand what you are asking: Can we identify individual fragments as authentic on the basis of their having stemmed from the same manuscript which we know to be authentic? Certainly, but these identifications are only partially dependent on content. When it comes to identifying and classifying fragments and manuscripts we depend primarily upon matching handwriting styles and corresponding features of damage. Content is certainly helpful, but secondary to this crucial first step of identification and physical reconstruction.
But it is further interesting to note that among the forgeries there seem to be some that were specifically crafted in an effort to have them identified with specific manuscripts. For example, when the first of the so-called "post-2002 Dead Sea Scroll fragments" were published by Hanan and Esther Eshel in 2005/6, they initially identified all of them on the basis of grainy, museum catalogue images with existing manuscripts from Qumran that are housed in the IAA. In the intervening decade virtually every one of these identifications have since been overturned, and most—if not all—of these fragments are now considered as forgeries. On the other side of this question I and my colleagues did manage to identify one of Schøyen's fragments with an actual copy of the "Rewritten Pentatuech" from Qumran on the basis of handwriting and content. This identification has served as a soft form of authentication for this fragment.
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It's a really interesting topic. You should really have a documentary made, these are very engrossing stories. I especially liked the one about Galileo's forged "Sidereus Nuncius".
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It is actually something that has come up. I have a colleague here at TWU who is working with me in exploring the possibility of making a documentary, and I have also been approached by a rep. from the MOTB about making one. However, anything like this will be at least a year or two down the road.