It seems Dan Brown cannot even get a simple date right - never mind a proper description of a significant archaeological find.
1. The Da Vinci Code claims that the Dead Sea Scrolls date to 1950s: actually they were discovered in 1947!
2. Also, he makes the assertion that the Dead Sea Scrolls contained apocryphal gospels about Jesus and some of the "earliest Christian records" (pp.234 & 245).
In reality, the Dead Sea Scrolls are Jewish (not Christian) and include no gospels about Jesus at all!
I have not read the novel, but if it makes this claim it's a bizarre one - the Dead Sea Scrolls predate the Christian gospels. This is not exactly a secret - Dan Brown could have spent $15 or whatever for the Vermes book and fact-checked this in about 15-20 seconds. If the most basic facts like this are inaccurate, the novel wouldn't be much fun to read. At least James Michener did some factual research for his books.
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6/1/06 10:16 AM
