Origin Stories: A Forum on the “Discovery” and Interpretation of First-Millennium Manuscripts.

Introduction – Jennifer Barry (University of Mary Washington) and Eva Mroczek (UC Davis) 

Cluster #1

Årstein Justnes (University of Agder, Norway) – Fragments for Sale: Dead Sea Scrolls

Kipp Davis  (Trinity Western University) – Gleaning from the Cave of Wonders? Fragments, Forgeries and “Biblicism” in the Dead Sea Scrolls

Eva Mroczek (UC Davis) – Batshit Stories: New Tales of Discovering Ancient Texts

Cluster #2

Tommy Wasserman (Ansgar Teologiske Høgskole) – Simonides’ New Testament Papyri: Their Production and Purported Provenance

Roberta Mazza (University of Manchester) – “Property of a gentleman”: The market of ancient manuscripts and the problem of provenance

Nicola Denzey Lewis (Claremont Graduate University) – (Still) Rethinking the Origins of the Nag Hammadi Codices

Cluster #3

Nils Hallvard Korsvoll (Norwegian University of Science and Technology) – Seeing the forest but Missing the Trees

Samuel Collins (George Mason University) –  The Staffordshire Hoard and the Distance of the Past

Cluster #4

Daniel A. Hirshberg (University of Mary Washington) – Language Scattered, Treasures Revealed: Tibet’s First Millennium Manuscripts

Alba Fedeli (University of Birmingham) – Collective Enthusiasm and the Cautious Scholar: The Birmingham Qur’ān