Modern Expeditions Searching for the Treasures of the Copper Scroll

Vendyl Jones

Possibly the most controversial of all the men searching for the Treasures of the Copper Scroll has been the most informative for Jim Barfield’s research to determine the history of the copper document.  He and Jim Barfield differ greatly when it comes to the locations of the treasures listed on the scroll and its translation, but agree very much about its history.

Jim had met Vendyl Jones through a common friend by the name of Miriam Ben Yaakov, a Jewish lady that Jim had met online through Israel National Radio.  A short time after meeting the nice lady Jim was in Grandview, Texas spending the weekend with Vendyl and his wonderful wife Anita listening to many of Vendyl’s very interesting life stories and…to what Vendyl had to say about the Copper Scroll.  Vendyl had been searching for the Treasures of the Copper Scroll since the late 1960’s and is really the only person to have found any relics that could be connected to the list on the Copper Scroll. 

Vendyl began excavations in June of 1967, with a gentelman by the name of Solomon Steckoll, and later a Professor named Haas from the Hebrew University.  Mr. Steckoll and Vendyl were working under a permit from Jordan's Department of Antiquities in those years because Jordan had jurisdiction and ownership of the locations that Vendyl was searching at that time of the excavation.  Vendyl’s reputation as a mavrick archeologist was off to a good start.  Vendyl and the team he was with knew that the response from many in the academic community would not be favorable because of the way the Copper Scroll was viewed by many of the key players in archeolgy at the time.  For the most part, the academic world considered the Copper Scroll to be a hoax or some type of joke because of the ridiculous amounts of gold and silver that was described on the document.  So, to use the Copper Scroll as a basis for an excavation seemed ridiculous to those with established reputaions in archeology. 

Vendyl and his associates worked continuously with the scroll for ten years.  Walking the area for months on end to determine the layout of the Copper Scroll in hopes to identify the geography and geology mentioned in the ancient manuscript.  Vendyl wanted to match the places referenced in the scroll with the actual sites on the ground and with the help of his close friend the late Pesach Bar-Adon he felt that he had made great headway in locating many of the Copper Scroll locations as he had interprited on the scroll.  Ultimately he and Mr. Bar-Adon identified over 30 points of geographical and geological references thought to be described on the scroll. 

Vendyl has many that oppose his views on the Copper Scroll and even his religious beliefs but Vendyl and his wife Anita have been wonderful to Jim Barfield and his family so he only has good things to say about the hard working and dedicated couple.  May G-d bless them both.   (the following is a link to a Youtube video about Vendyl Jones   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fx4eX3ycORw

John Allegro’s Search for the Treasures of the Copper Scroll

John Allegro was among the first to believe that the Copper Scroll was a document of true importance and had great possibilities of proving to be a legitimate verbal map to a vast amount of temple or tabernacle treasures.  J.T. Milik, another power hitter in the archeological arena had the opinion that the treasure in the list was only imaginary. Many traditional stories in Jewish literature also describe how treasures from the first temple were hidden giving additional credence to the Copper Scroll’s validity.  Objects such as the Ark of the Covenant, alter of incense and Menorah were included in the valuables in each of the literary descriptions of hidden treasures.  Often the literature included famous biblical figures like Jeremiah who took the role as the leader of the men attempting to hide the vessels, gold, and silver for an age yet to come. Milik's opinion was that the Copper Scroll was just another of these stories that could not be verified and were to be placed amongst the books of fables in the library of historical documents.

Allegro however, took a stand that would earn him little favor among his peers because he believed that the Copper Scroll and the treasure it described were real.  Although the Copper Scroll was nothing more than a boring list of items, those items were nothing less than fantastic.  The possibilities that the author of the Copper Scroll had any significant stature was not realized until the Jewish writing from the 17^th century named Emek Ha Melek was discovered and brought a new fact to light.  In it was a story of five men hiding vast amounts of gold and silver temple or tabernacle service vessels and recording their work on a copper plate.  Until then no name could be give to the men that wrote the Copper Scroll and two of them hold a place in all of our Bibles, those men were Haggai and Zechariah from the books of the prophets. 

The copper manuscript was nothing more than a list of 60 locations and an accounting of objects hidden in each place. As the Copper Scroll expert Dr. P. Kyle McCarter Jr. once stated, "...it is extremely difficult to imagine that anyone would have gone to the trouble to prepare a costly sheet of pure copper and imprint it with an extensive and sober list of locations unless he had been entrusted with hiding a real and immensely valuable treasure and wanted to make a record of this work that could withstand the ravages of time."  As time went on more people began to realize that the scroll was so unique that it had to hold a place of major importance.  But how was it to be understood?  If the scroll did, or does list a real treasure, to whom did the treasure belong?

Armed with the knowledge that the treasure had real potential and that the prize was much too big to simply ignore; Allegro pressed forward with the initial phases of his search. By Milik's count, there were some 4,630 talents of gold and silver listed on the Copper Scroll.  Even if a talent weighed only 16 ounces, the treasure would be wonderful.  Nobody is exactly sure how much a talent weighed at the time the scroll was written, but the figures lie somewhere between twenty-five and seventy-five pounds per talent, placing the final figure some where in the neighborhood of 58 and 174 tons of precious metal.

After the initial translation of the Copper Scroll arrived on the desk of the authorities in Jordan, Allegro was surprised to see an official press release stating that the treasures mentioned in the Copper Scroll, were simply imaginary.  Allegro could only imagine that the official statement had been crafted to avoid setting off a treasure hunt throughout the region that would potentially destroy important archaeological sites.

With a new translation in his hands Allegro soon gathered some help and in late 1959 he set out to find the treasure.  Allegro knew that the task he had undertaken would be extremely difficult.  Pinpointing the locations mentioned on the scroll would be no simple task even if he knew exactly where to begin, which he didn’t.  According to the new translation, there were multiple sites that could only be located by persons from that era.  After thousands of years the names of places had changed and manmade structures sited on the Copper Scroll had long since vanished.  Still, Allegro would not let those details dampen his spirits, and he followed up on his best guess scenarios.

Site after site was explored by Allegro.  But time and time again nothing materialized.  Allegro as many others have done finally had to concede that his theory was not to come to fruition.  He and all of those that have attempted to find the artifacts of the Copper Scroll are to be admired, if their attempts were done according to Israeli law.  The Copper Scroll is an illusive and mysterious document that, in Jim Barfield’s opinion, will yield its fruits when the time is right.  On that day the person chosen by our Father in heaven will open the cave that contains the most sought after relic in the world…the Ark of the Covenant and the answer to a mystery that has intrigued man for centuries.