News
New Wrinkle In Scrolls Scandal
Dead Sea scholar refutes
missing records charge,
but admits key artifacts
have vanished from the
Ecole Biblique.
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ERIC J. GREENBERG
Special to The Jewish News
D
ead Sea Scroll archaeologists
who claim there is an inter-
national scandal regarding
missing documents must
have their heads in the sand.
This from a California scholar who
says he knows where some of the
manuscripts are: in his Hebron Road
apartment.
Stephen J. Pfann, director of the
Center for the Study of Early
Christianity, said that he is currently
translating into English — for the first
time — the excavation notes made in
the 1950s by legendary French Dead
Sea Scroll excavator Father Roland de
Vaux.
"I have the notes right in front of
me on my lap," Pfann announced,
saying he is shooting for a 1998 publi-
cation date.
But he says the notes are not as
comprehensive as many experts were
hoping. And he also confirmed that
priceless artifacts excavated from the
desert ruins by de Vaux's team of Bible
scholars have vanished.
Pfann wanted to dispute charges
made by several noted archaeologists
that de Vaux's 50-year-old field records
are missing or being withheld from
the public by the Ecole Biblique de
Francaise, the French Dominican
Bible school in east Jerusalem. The
Ecole holds the rights to de Vaux's
notes, some scrolls, and related ancient
objects but has failed to publish all the
records for more than 40 years.
Pfann confirmed charges by
Qumran scholars that priceless ancient
coins and other artifacts found in the
Dead Sea ruins have vanished — a
devastating blow to Dead Sea Scroll
scholars who call it an international
scandal that should be investigated by
the Israeli Antiquities Authority.
"Yes, the coins are missing," Pfann
admitted. Also missing are pottery
shards, glass, and metal objects that
could help archaeologists pinpoint
dates for the scrolls. Pfann said there
are some notes which identify coins
and some pottery, but archaeologists
argue that isn't enough.
In the 1950s De Vaux excavated
the ruins of Qumran, an ancient
Jewish settlement in the Judean
Desert, near the caves where the Dead A,
Sea Scrolls were found.
Dismissing critics of the Ecole,
which is sponsoring his work, Pfann
claimed some of de Vaux's notes were
published 40 years ago — in French.
He waved away criticism from experts
such as Tufts University archaeologist
Jodi Magness who say that until all of
de Vaux's notes are published, scholars
are "just making it up" regarding their
conclusion about the Qumran site -4-
located about 25 miles southwest of
Jerusalem — and who lived there.
But Pfann said the critics com-
plaints demonstrated "a bit of their
impatience." He also said, "I think
they're feeling embarrassed that they
are trying to make the best with notes
from the 1950s."
But Magness said: "I don't think
waiting 40 years qualifies as impa-
tience. They [Ecole] didn't publish the
material; they're the ones to be embar-
rassed." She said the notes could help
conclude that the Qumran sect were
Essenes, a sectarian Jewish group wh(;)
feuded with what they believed were
corrupt Jerusalem priests.
She also explained that a full report
of de Vaux's work has never been pub-
lished, contrary to Pfann's contentio.i.
What has been published are prelimi-
nary reports which contain errors.
And she questioned why Pfann,
who is not an archaeologist, has beer
allowed by the Ecole to prepare the
English translation of de Vaux's notes.
Pfann meanwhile had bad news for
archaeologists hoping that de Vaux's
notes would provide them excavation
data they are seeking. He said the
notes do not contain standard data
such as section drawings and building
elevations.
"De Vaux didn't take any elevatidD
records," Pfann revealed. "I think
what they're hoping for is a modern
excavation, and this wasn't."
Pfann detailed a series of events that
contributed to the delay of publishinf,
de Vaux's field notes, including: the
Israel-Arab Six-Day War in 1967 when
some of the scrolls changed hands from
Jordan to Israel causing political havoc;
de Vaux's death in 1972 and his failure
to cultivate a successor to pick up the (,
research; and a chronic lack of funds at
the Ecole to keep scroll research going.
"We're good scholars, but we're not
great fundraisers," he said. ❑
'
- New York Jewish Wee;