Loading...Is it OK to destroy ancient mummy masks in hopes of finding yet something more valuable out of them?
I have just returned from my annual professional meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature, where thousands of biblical scholars come to read academic papers to one another, sit on panels to review books or discuss topics, and, well, schmooz. These days I mainly schmooz. But I did go to a few sessions, including one particularly intriguing panel discussion of a fantastic new book on the corrupt ways manuscripts are allegedly discovered these days, written by papyrologist (expert in the study of ancient papyri manuscripts) Roberta Mazza, Stolen Fragments: Black Markets, Bad Faith, and the Illicit Trade in Ancient Artefacts
Among the intriguing topics that come up in her full-scale attack on scholars who rely on the black market to get their “ancient manuscripts” was the issue I’ve dealt with before on the blog, the case of the “first-century Gospel of Mark” (which was decidedly not from the first century, we found out) said to be extracted from an ancient Egyptian mummy mask (that also was false). I devoted a thread to this mummy mask business many years ago, and since I have now been thinking about it again, thought it would be a good time to return to it.
This was my opening discussion written in 2015, referring to an incident that had occurred a few years earlier.
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Nothing like tearing down an old house and finding century old newspapers. Then hiding them in your attic. On occasion you get lucky and find the old leather roller that printed the paper used as wall board.
Isn’t it going to be a hoot if Ancient Egyptian religion turns out to be true and these apologists are denied entrance into A’Aru, the Field of Reeds, by a rather upset Osiris, pi$$ed off at their blasphemy?