Shelley Neese - The Copper Scroll Project: An Ancient Secret Fuels the Battle for the Temple Mount

SHELLEY NEESE

NEW YORK

LONDONNASHVILLEMELBOURNEVANCOUVER

The Copper Scroll Project

An Ancient Secret Fuels the Battle for the Temple Mount

2019 Shelley Neese

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ISBN 9781683509158 paperback

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2017919473

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In memory of my grandmother, Mildred Ford, a light to my path.

I am grateful to my editor, Joan Tapper, whose expertise refined a manuscript in need of refining. I am grateful to Jen Dean and Christina Ankeney; every writer should be so lucky to have creative friends with an eye for edits. I want to thank Dr. Kenneth Hanson for letting me borrow your Dead Sea Scrolls knowledge and keeping this manuscript abreast of the latest scholarly debates. Thanks to Angel Melvin and your help with the website, photography, and all things design. I am indebted to my agent, Dan Balow. Thank you for taking a risk on a first-time writer and your patient belief in the books potential. Thanks to the support of my colleagues at The Jerusalem Connection , Marilyn Henretty and Marilyn Levar. Thanks to my boss, Jim Hutchens, for letting me pour so much time into what most would have considered a tangent, but you honored as a life mission. Thank you to my parents and in-laws and your practical show of support every time I needed childcare so I could go to Israel. And most significantly, I want to thank my husband, Brian, who has been my cheerleader from the start. You sacrificed our most precious asset, time, in pursuit of this decade-long endeavor. And of course, I want to thank Jim Barfield and his wife, Laurie. Thank you for letting me be your shadow and share your story. And thank you for being the kind of people who never let a dream die or a goal flounder. As I hope the following pages prove, your tenacity is infectious.

S eventy years ago, the desert of central Israel was filled with expeditions to unearth ancient documents known as the Dead Sea Scrolls. A French explorer happened upon two brittle copper rolls on a shelf in a cave that together came to be known as the Copper Scroll. An ancient treasure map, the Copper Scroll has mystified scholars and delighted Dead Sea Scroll enthusiasts since it was first opened.

An arson investigator from Oklahoma, I am an unlikely candidate to decipher the Copper Scroll. As the principal subject of the book in your hands, I understand the hazards here all too well: navigating the quagmire of scrutiny from academics and religious factions, on the one hand, and dodging the political trip wires surrounding the Copper Scrolls connections to the Temple Mount, on the other. My quest exposes the underworld of actors who try and stop archaeological progress for fear of igniting political disputes and land claims. The story profiles the colliding interests of Arab versus Israeli, Christian versus Jew, and secular versus religious. I have found myself, at one time or another, in the crosshairs of every one of these flashpoints. The task of chronicling the madness required a seasoned author with thick skin.

Yet Shelley Neese exceeds all expectations for such an undertaking. Her strong journalistic background, her linguistic skills, and her Israel-based advanced education make her uniquely qualified for this expos. A massive dose of patience has also been required as she embedded herself in our team for a decade. The Copper Scroll Project is an experience shared by myself and an army of devoted supporters. Relaying our goals, mission, and purpose sets our boundaries, and no one could have knitted those objectives into an intriguing story better than Shelley.

Our team is not made up of treasure hunters. We are dedicated to returning the ancient artifacts and treasures listed on the Copper Scroll to the people of Israel. That obstacle-laden journey, however, has forced us to maneuver the complicated world of Israel antiquities. In the book, Shelley enlightens and guides the reader through the difficulties and oppressive atmosphere created by what I believe is a fear of conflicting religious and academic revelations knowing that any revelation from a Copper Scroll discovery could upend long held beliefs. Shelley explains these roadblocks that have prevented a conclusive excavation at the site my research has identified. Should the projects research produce a discovery of biblical artifacts, it will also produce a fear of the fulfillment of established biblical warnings. Shelley details our efforts to reveal to Israelindeed, the worldthe meaning of the Copper Scroll, which promises far more than treasures, and she does so masterfully.

My skills as an award-winning investigator prepared me for the task of compiling the hard-hitting evidence to convince a litany of authorities in Israel. Equally, Shelleys academic style and investigative documentation contained in The Copper Scroll Project is invaluable for those wanting more than a mere story of trials and successes. The frustration and elation that Shelley records paint a vivid picture of the cliff-hugging path we have all shared since the initial discovery in December 2006. What you read in these pages will often strike you as impossible, but I assure you that every word of it is true (although, of course, some of the names have been changed).

Now we wait. Is there a scholar, a rabbi, an antiquities authority, or an interested reader with the influence strong enough to loosen the stranglehold that prevents this project from completing our excavation? We hope for that missing link between Gods timing and the fulfillment of the mission of The Copper Scroll Project .