New publication: “Professional Ethics, Provenance, and Policies: A Survey of Dead Sea Scrolls Scholars”

We are happy to announce a new publication by two members of the WCOM working group.

Bonnie, Rick, Matthew Goff, Jutta Jokiranta, Suzie Thomas, and Shani Tzoref.  2020. “Professional Ethics, Provenance, and Policies: A Survey of Dead Sea Scrolls Scholars.” Dead Sea Discoveries 27 (2): 257–93. https://brill.com/view/journals/dsd/27/2/article-p257_4.xml.

In 2018, Rick Bonnie and Suzie Thomas were asked by a close Helsinki colleague, Jutta Jokiranta, to help developing an online survey to explore understandings of provenance issues among Dead Sea Scrolls scholars. Initially this was for a presentation in the  SBL International Meeting in Helsinki in the summer of 2018. Members of the audience back then, however, encouraged us to discuss the results in publication.

Abstract: “This article presents and discusses the results of an online survey undertaken in 2018, which targeted scholars of the Dead Sea Scrolls and associated research fields. Respondents were asked questions on the state of knowledge in the field regarding provenance issues and related ethics and policies. The goal of the survey was to establish the levels of awareness within Qumran and related studies concerning the role of the antiquities market, the potential accountability (or not) of scholars as perceived by respondents, as well as their general awareness of relevant policies and codes of conduct. The article discusses the key points that the survey raised, with the aim of offering textual scholars tools to assess their role in provenance issues.”

The article is currently behind paywall, but we are discussing the possibility of having it already open access. In any case, if you are interested you can contact Rick (rick.bonnie [at] helsinki.fi) for an offprint. Since Brill allows Green OA with a 12 month embargo period, the accepted (peer-reviewed) manuscript will be available to anyone in June 2021 from the University of Helsinki repository, https://helda.helsinki.fi.