Enigma: The Copper Scroll Treasure List Decoded
The Dead Sea copper scroll has been deciphered. In a fascinating decoding exercise, it was discovered that the numbers listed as weights of treasures and cubit measurements on the scroll, were actually the indices of a magnificent calendar matrix. The findings end one of the most intriguing Biblical mysteries, which had confounded scholars for over 60 years. So preoccupied were previous investigators with the treasures, they had overlooked the importance of the numbers on the copper scroll. Instead, the lure of finding hidden treasures excited imaginations and led to archaeological expeditions. But all ended in failure simply because the descriptions to find the sites were incredibly vague or nonsensical.
The Copper Scroll part of the Dead Sea Scrolls. (Mahdi Abdulrazak / CC BY-SA 2.0)
The numbers should have aroused suspicion because there was something gravely amiss about their layout. They were listed as the depths to dig in cubits to find specific numerical weights of gold and silver treasures at 64 locations. (Talents and cubits were the Biblical units of weights and measurements). On closer scrutiny it transpired that no numerical weights of treasures were listed at ten of the sites. Nor were there cubits listed at one third of the sites. That was the first breakthrough because it indicated that the cubits and weights of treasures were unnecessary at the other sites. So why were all those numbers listed? It made them the focus of attention and therefore, the numbers were entered onto a spreadsheet for analysis.
