(Photo: Shai Halevi, Israel Antiquities Authority)
By Amanda Borschel-Dan - September 7, 2022
The hunt for additional Dead Sea Scrolls has taken archaeologists and adventure-seekers all over the Judean Desert. But the successful quest for a recently repatriated First Temple-era papyrus letter took the head of the Israel Antiquities Authority’s Theft Prevention Unit to a much more unlikely location — Montana.
This 4-centimeter-high, 5-centimeter-wide (1.5 inch x 2 inches) fragment joins only two other known contemporary papyrus fragments inscribed with early Hebrew in the Land of Israel to date.
The treasure hunt ended earlier this year after the IAA’s Eitan Klein located the owner of the exceedingly rare papyrus in the fittingly nicknamed Treasure State.
Read More: Times of Israel