The Bible Museum says five of its Dead Sea Scrolls are fake

An American biblical museum has removed fragments of what he said were part of the Dead Sea Scrolls, after tests revealed that it was fake.

The Bible Museum in Washington DC sent five of its 16 fragments to be analyzed in Germany.

But the results showed "characteristics incompatible with the ancient origin," said the museum.

Costing $ 500 million, the museum was opened by billionaire and evangelical Christian Steve Green in 2017.

The manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible are ancient manuscripts.

The first scrolls were discovered in caves in Qumran, on the west coast of the Dead Sea, in 1947. They were first discovered by a young Bedouin shepherd in search of lost sheep.

& # 39; Commitment to transparency & # 39;

The tests were commissioned after Bible scholars who examined 13 unexplored fragments of the museum said that there was a "high probability" that a number of them were counterfeits modern.

The chief curator of the museum, Jeffrey Kloha, said he hoped "the tests would produce different results".

However, he added, "This is an opportunity to educate the public about the importance of verifying the authenticity of rare biblical artifacts, the testing process developed and our commitment to transparency",

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This is not the first time that museum owners are facing controversy.

Last year, Mr. Green's company, the Hobby Lobby, paid a fine of $ 3 million (2.3 million pounds) and returned thousands of items after the Ministry of the US Justice has accused it of illegally introducing artifacts from Iraq.