![]() Ten years and fifteen separate tests later we knew these things were for real. The job was now to discover whether it was reused Roman lead – reused by cunning forgers on the hunt for willing but gullible buyers and considerable riches. Initial analysis at several prominent laboratories confirmed the Roman provenance of the lead. (© David Elkington) The Codices Are Authentic This was soon confirmed by an enquiry to the Palestine Exploration Fund in London: on the theme of lead codices we could find nothing. However, it was when we were informed that they were made entirely of lead rather than leather that we realized that we were looking at something unique. Ever since the discovery of the Nag Hammadi texts in 1945 all manner of codices have flooded the market, most of them forgeries. At first glance they looked unremarkable - odd leather books that looked quite beaten up and, frankly, such things are to be seen on the open market. The documents first came to light in 2007 when we were first asked to provide an initial assessment. The discovery was soon to be described as ‘more important than the Dead Sea Scrolls’ by the Director of Antiquities in Amman, Jordan – and here we were in Northern Jordan, in pursuit of documents that could very well change everything we know of the origins of Christianity. What we were looking at were very early books. (© David Elkington) “More Important than the Dead Sea Scrolls”
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