The Copper Scroll

Photo Credit: David Niblack, Imagebase.net

Yesterday we asked our Facebook fans if they recognized the item shown in the photo.

Well, as some replied this is the 2,000 year-old Copper Scroll, one of the Dead Sea's scrolls. 

Unlike the rest of the scrolls found in Qumran which were written on parchment, this scroll was engraved on copper. It lists a vast amount of treasures including gold, silver, coins and valuable vessels along with their hiding places which are scattered throughout the Holy-Land. It is estimated that the total scale of the Copper Scroll's treasures weigh over 100 tons (!).

The places mentioned in the scroll are largely unknown, nor does the origin of the treasures. There are several hypotheses as to the nature of the treasures, claiming they are: 

Treasury of the Pharaohs, treasures of King Solomon's temple which were concealed prior to the Babylonian exile, second temple treasures hidden before the fall of Jerusalem by the Romans and valuables which belonged to the Qumran sect. The fact that all of those theories are easily disputed leads to another option, suggesting that this list of unimaginable wealth is simply a 2,000 year-old hoax…