Since last November, the Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC, has been home to 16 fragments of the famed Dead Sea Scrolls — or so it thought.

Museum officials revealed Monday that five of the pieces are actually fake and will no longer be displayed.

They had discovered this though third-party analysis, using “leading-edge technology.”

“Though we had hoped the testing would render different results, this is an opportunity to educate the public on the importance of verifying the authenticity of rare biblical artifacts, the elaborate testing process undertaken and our commitment to transparency,” explained Jeffrey Kloha, chief curatorial officer for the museum, in a press release.

“As an educational institution entrusted with cultural heritage, the museum upholds and adheres to all museum and ethical guidelines on collection care, research and display,” he said. “The museum continues to support and encourage research on these objects and others in its collection both to inform the public about leading-edge research methods and ensure our exhibits are presenting the most accurate and updated information.”

The museum had sent the phony fragments to the German-based research institute Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und-prüfung (BAM) for 3-D digital microscopy testing back in April 2017, as well as X-ray scanning and “energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDX) material analysis,” according to officials.

History experts had long questioned the authenticity of the DSS pieces and conducted research to try and prove they were forgeries.

Kipp Davis, of Trinity Western University, said he “focused primarily on two aspects of Museum of the Bible’s fragments: scribal quality and technique in the penning of the texts,” along with the “physical composition and current state of the manuscript media.”

“My studies to date have managed to confirm upon a preponderance of different streams of evidence the high probability that at least seven fragments in the museum’s Dead Sea Scrolls collection are modern forgeries,” Davis said. “But conclusions on the status of the remaining fragments are still forthcoming.”