INTRODUCTION

     The above picture shows Najib Anton Albina at work in his photographic studio at the Palestine Archaeological Museum, which is located in Jerusalem and is now known as the Rockefeller Museum. Albina photographed most of the Dead Sea Scrolls during the 1950s and 1960s. Although this photograph of Albina was taken in May of 1952, the copy shown above is from a 1963 guidebook to the museum; which gives one an idea of what the research facilities looked like during the early years of scroll research. This research entailed photographing the myriad manuscript fragments, pottery, and other artifacts that were found in the Dead Sea region. These photographs provided a means for recording and studying these archaeological finds; along with preserving them for posterity.

OBSERVATIONS

     This collection of photographs is known as the PAM series, the letters "PAM" being an abbreviation for the Palestine Archaeological Museum. The manuscript fragments from Qumran cave 7 were photographed between 1957 and 1959; and can be seen in the following infrared photographs:

     All the papyrus fragments (7Q1-18) are depicted in PAM 42.358 and also in PAM 42.961. The clay imprints (7Q19) are depicted in PAM 42.433 and PAM 42.433A. Fragment 7Q1 is also found in PAM 42.593, along with some fragments from caves 6 and 8. Some of these photographs (PAM 42.433, PAM 42.433A and PAM 42.961) were edited and published in 1962 as plate XXX in the editio princeps, better known as DJD III or "Discoveries in the Judaean Desert of Jordan, Les Petits Grottes de Qumran." During the 1990s all of these photographs have been made available in various formats for study.
     The fragments that were photographed twice are the papyrus fragments (7Q1-18), although 7Q1 was photographed three times. Since PAM 42.358 was taken prior to PAM 42.961, the latter depicts some minor adjustments to a few of the fragments and was consequently used for DJD III. In comparing these two photographs, one will notice that PAM 42.358 has an extra papyrus fragment that is not included in PAM 42.961 or in DJD III. This extra fragment is located on the right hand side of PAM 42.358. It is the third fragment down from the top and is situated below the fragment that came to be designated by the siglum 7Q13. It is also above 7Q7 and to the right of 7Q4,2. This small fragment preserves the Greek letter n, along with a trace of a letter below it. It appears to be part of the right hand edge of a column of text.
     A diagram of this fragment appears below:

     The fragment is 9 mm wide and 12 mm high. The height of the n is 3mm and the distance from the top of the n to the trace below it is 7mm. A transcription of the text is as follows:

     Line 1 The top left portion appears to be missing, and it is possible that the letter had serifs; although it is hard to distinguish between ink and shadow in the photograph.
     Line 2 There is a small trace of a horizontal stroke from the top of a letter. There may also be a faint trace of a vertical stroke at the left edge of the fragment which descends from the horizontal stroke. This letter may have been an: i h or n with serifs.

IMPLICATIONS

     Since the horizontal papyrus fibers slope downward to the right, as with fragments 7Q4, 7Q8, and 7Q12; it is possible that this fragment is from the same scroll. The possibility that this fragment is part of First Enoch is enhanced by the fact that all of these fragments are broken along the edge of a column of text.

QUESTIONS

1. Where is this Greek papyrus fragment?
2. Can anything else be known about it?
3. Why wasn't it published in DJD III?
4. Is there really a 7Q20?

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August 14, 1999 / June 7, 2003