The Copper Scroll
In the annals of archaeology, there is usually a clear distinction between "treasure maps" and "historical documents." One belongs to the realm of pirate fiction and Hollywood blockbusters; the other belongs to museums and universities. But in 1952, inside a cave overlooking the Dead Sea, that distinction collapsed. Five years after the initial discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, a team of archaeologists excavated Cave 3 at Qumran. Buried in the back, behind a fallen rock, they found something that didn't fit the pattern. While the other scrolls were made of decaying leather or fragile papyrus, this object was green, corroded, and metallic. It was a scroll made of pure copper (alloyed with a tiny amount of tin), rolled up tight like a sheet of linoleum. This is 3Q15 , better known to the world as the Copper Scroll . Unlike its neighbors which speak of prophecy, psalms, and prayer, this scroll speaks of only one thing: Gold . The Impossible Opening Whe...