New Discovery, 'Dead Sea Scroll' Remains Fogg Museum Mystery

The contents of the invaluable "Fourth Dead Sea Scroll" remain a mystery today. Discovered four years ago in Palestine, the scroll was brought to Harvard's Fogg Art Museum in 1949 to be unrolled. But 18 months ago, the owner suddenly decided that the parchment should remain unopened.

The scroll is believed to be the lost and legendary Book of Lamech, the story of Noah's father. Some 26 lines from a fragment of the manuscript have led archaeologists and Biblical experts to assume that the priceless scroll contains the story of Noah's youth, of the coming of the Great Flood, of preparations for buildings and setting afloat the Ark.

Early in the summer of 1947, some bedouin goatherds came upon several manuscripts in a care near the Dead Sea. They had been preserved in leather wrappings, and were kept in jars. It was an ancient Hebrew custom to bury documents in this manner when they were threatened with destruction.

Four of the parchments were purchased by the Reverend Athanasius Yeshue Samuel. Archbishop and Metropolitan of Jerusalem and Trans-Jordan. Among the manuscripts were a text of the Book of Isaiah, a commentary on the Book of Habakkok, a sectarian document which codified the rules for one of the old Hebrew tribes, and a fourth, whose nature was unknown.

The last document had not withstood the pressures of time and the elements as well as the others. It was sealed, perhaps permanently. But a 26-line fragment led experts to believe that the scroll contained the legendary Book of Lamech.

The Archbishop brought the documents to the American School of Oriental Research in Jerusalem, which intended to purchase the rights of publication. Professor Carl Kraeling, head of the School, recommended that the Fourth Dead Sea Scroll be sent to technical experts to be unrolled. He believed that there were only two places in the world at which the scroll could safely be opened: the British Museum in London, and the Fogg Art Museum.

When the Archbishop came to this country in 1949, he brought the ancient manuscript to Fogg. Rutherford John Gettens, then Chief of Technical Research of the Fogg Museum, undertook the responsibility of analyzing the document.

He claimed that the leather had become stiff and "gelatinized." Opening the scroll would be similar to the process of unwrapping a cigar. He finally concluded that it would be feasible to unroll the parchment, although the project involved the danger that it would be harmed. Gettens could not give the Archbishop absolute assurance that the 2,000-year-old leather would not be some-what damaged in the process.

Gettens estimated that at least six months would be required to unroll the scroll, perhaps twelve. The Fogg technician made preparations for the delicate process, and in the meantime, the scroll was placed back in the Archbishop's hands.

Suddenly, on May 23, 1950, John P. Coolidge '35. Director of the Fogg Art Museum, announced that the Archbishop had decided against returning the parchment to Fogg to have it opened.