Fight! Fight! Antiquities Authority manhandled Leviticus scroll, says archaeologist

Professor Hanan Eshel, the archaeologist who two years ago uncovered scroll fragments of the Book of Leviticus, says the Israel Antiquities Authority, which now has the finds, has cut out large chunks of the scroll on the pretext that its dating needed to be examined.

This was not a necessary procedure, says Eshel, since "experts say it was possible to test the dating without an intrusive examination and in the worst case scenario by cutting a tiny, peripheral portion of the scroll."

Relying on internal sources in the Antiquities Authority, Eshel says "there had even been plans to cut letters from the scroll but the employees that were asked to do so refused."