Yes, that’s right, you could be the proud owner of a very small piece of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the world’s oldest biblical manuscripts. These are the leftovers that were not sold to scholars and institutions by a Palestinian family. Some of the pieces are smaller than a postage stamp and some are even blank. But these pieces are prized possessions for evangelical Christian collectors and institutions in America. Insane amounts of money has been exchanged to have a piece of this amazing history.

But the Palestinian family marketing off the leftovers has outraged the Israeli government antiquities authority. The authority which holds the majority of the scrolls claims that every piece should be recognised as “Israeli cultural property.” the authority is threatening seizure of any other piece of the scroll that makes its way onto the market. Amir Ganor the head of the authority’s anit-looting sqaud said:

The scrolls’ only address is the State of Israel.

According to a member of the Palestinian family who owns the leftovers of the scrolls, William Kondo, the leftovers were offered to the antiquities authority but they could not afford them. Kando said:

If anyone is interested, we are ready to sell…These are the most important things in the world.

The scrolls were discovered over 70 years ago in the Dead Sea, east of Jerusalem and their discovery was one of the greatest archaeological events. There has been a recent rush for these leftover fragments of the scrolls which were mostly written on animal skin some 2,000 years ago.

[Source: Washington Post]