A thorough investigation of one of the world's most valuable collections of Dead Sea Scroll fragments has revealed a shocking truth: not one of the collection's 16 fragments analysed is authentic.
对全世界最有价值的收藏品之一——死海卷轴碎片彻底进行调查之后，结果令人震惊：藏品的16个碎片中没有一个是真的。

The Dead Sea Scrolls, a trove of religious manuscripts containing the oldest known foundations of the Old Testament, date as far back as the third century BCE. The vast majority of these ancient, weathered texts are displayed in Jerusalem, but many more fragments circulate on the private market, where they are coveted by cashed-up collectors and museums.
死海古卷是一堆宗教手稿，包含旧约最古老的基础内容，可以追溯到公元前三世纪。这些古老的饱经风霜的文本中绝大多数在耶路撒冷展出，但有更多的碎片在自由市场上流通，富有的收藏家和博物馆都对它们垂涎三尺。

Unfortunately, many researchers in the field of biblical archaeology suspect that some of these supposed relics – especially a mysterious body of fragments that only turned up late in the day, in 2002 – are cunningly crafted forgeries that can fool even experts.
不幸的是，很多圣经考古学领域的研究人员怀疑这些所谓的文物中有一些是巧夺天工的赝品，甚至连专家都看不出来，尤其是在2002年的一天很晚才出现的一个神秘碎片。

That bleak view was seemingly confirmed in late 2018, when the US$500 million Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC revealed that at least five of the Dead Sea Scroll fragments in its collection on display were actually fakes.
这种悲观看法似乎在2018年末得到了证实，当时耗资5亿美元建成的华盛顿特区的圣经博物馆透露，这些展出的死海卷轴碎片中至少有5块真的是赝品。

Since then, the museum has engaged further scientific help to ascertain whether the rest of its scroll fragments (rumoured to have cost millions to acquire) are the real deal. It turns out, rather embarrassingly, they are not.
从那以后，这家博物馆一直在进一步利用科学方法来查明剩余的卷轴碎片（据传是花了几百万收购来的）是否是真的。结果很令人尴尬，都是假的。

"After an exhaustive review of all the imaging and scientific analysis results, it is evident that none of the textual fragments in Museum of the Bible's Dead Sea Scroll collection are authentic," says art fraud investigator Colette Loll, the founder and director of Art Fraud Insights.
Art Fraud Insights创始人兼负责人、艺术欺诈调查员Colette Loll说：“经过对所有成像和科学分析结果的详尽回顾，证实了圣经博物馆的死海古卷的文本碎片都是假的。”

 

翻译：菲菲