THE COPPER SCROLLDiscovered by a group of Bedouin shepherds in
Palestine in 1946, the Dead Sea Scrolls remain one
of the most signifi cant archaeological fi nds ever.
The scrolls – a collection of barely preserved Jewish
parchments dating from the third century BCE
through to the latter parts of the fi rst century CE –
o er unparalleled insights into a pivotal time in
history. Interestingly, a copper scroll inscribed in
an obscure Hebrew dialect was also found among the
reams of papyrus. Instead of cultural information,
this scroll appears to list the location of 64 di erent
stashes of gold and silver – literally tonnes of the stu ,
if what it claims is true. Alas, the Copper Scroll remains
largely inscrutable, thanks to a writing style that
assumes an inordinate amount of local knowledge.
For example, one entry simply reads, “In the cave of the
old washer’s chamber, on the third terrace: 65 ingots
of gold”. Naturally, this has not dissuaded legions
of treasure hunters from trying to unpick the clues
contained therein, although the largest e ort so far- a 1962 expedition that excavated a number of the
most obvious locations – returned empty-handed.
While there’s every chance that collections of gold
and silver may still dot the Palestinian desert, it is
perhaps more likely that the Romans, during their
siege of Jerusalem, captured and tortured enough
of the citizenry that they discovered it all themselves. •
THE BEALE CIPHERS
In January 1820, a tall, mysterious stranger going
by the name of Thomas J. Beale checked into a hotel
in Lynchburg, Virginia. He stayed for three months,
left, then returned again 18 months later, this time
entrusting the hotelier, Robert Morriss, with a locked
box containing “papers of value and importance”.
Twenty-three years passed and, convinced that Beale
must be dead, Morriss cracked open the box to discover
a note from Beale, along with three sheets full of
numbers. The note explained how Beale and a group
of companions had struck gold back in 1817. Needing
somewhere safe to keep their loot, they entrusted Beale
with the task of hiding it. He dutifully did so, then
transcribed the location of the treasure in a simple
code. All you needed to unlock it was the correct cipher,
a formula that only Beale possessed. When Morriss
died, an associate published the story, along with the
three ciphers, in a widely sold 1885 pamphlet. The
anonymous pamphleteer cracked the fi rst cipher using
the Declaration of Independence – yes, this was the
inspiration for National Treasure – but all it did was
describe the contents of the stash: around $43 million
U.S.D. worth of gold, silver and jewels. The greatest
minds in cryptography have spent the intervening 130
years trying and failing to crack the Beale codes, leading
many to deride the whole thing as an elaborate hoax,
likely perpetrated by the pamphleteer himself.
055 SMITH JOURNAL