The Jerusalem Post (Link) - Shelley Neese (August 19, 2009)
"Shelley, I want you to meet the guy who has cracked the code on the Copper Scroll." With that intriguing introduction, I shook hands with Jim Barfield. We stood among the kiosks of Israeli goods during a lunch break at a Christian Zionist conference in Forth Worth, Texas.
"Congratulations," I replied, "but what's the Copper Scroll?"
"A treasure map," Barfield answered, "from the prophet Jeremiah."
I gave Barfield and his companion a quick once over, trying to determine whether they were the well-intentioned kind of crazy or scary crazy. A small-town Oklahoma man with impressive posture, Barfield sported long (really long) gray hair and a full goatee. His partner in "The Copper Scroll Project" is Chris Knight, another long-haired fellow who speaks softly and possesses a gentle demeanor. He shares the same look of confidence and conviction that Barfield exudes as they brief me on the Scroll.
The Copper Scroll was discovered in 1952 in one of the Qumran caves along the Dead Sea. Though part of the official Dead Sea Scrolls Collection, the Copper Scroll differs from the others in that it is written entirely on thin sheets of alloyed copper rather than papyrus or leather. Furthermore, the Copper Scroll is neither scriptural nor literary, but rather a detailed list of approximately sixty locations where vast amounts of gold, silver, coins, vessels, and other religious artifacts are hidden. Such Temple treasures might also include the Ark of the Covenant.
THE SCROLL was found rolled in two parts and badly oxidized. Fearing it would crumble like thin glass, experts debated for four years over the best way to open it. Finally the Scroll was sent to a lab in Manchester, England where they cut it into twenty-three strips with a high-speed saw. Photographs of the strips were taken, and then, since the scroll had been found during an expedition sponsored by the Jordan Department of Antiquities, the pieces were sent back to the country.
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