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Dead Sea Scroll scans to be published online

 
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jerrys1960
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 21, 2010 2:57 pm    Post subject: Dead Sea Scroll scans to be published online Reply with quote

copied from:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/19/dead-sea-scrolls-online


Dead Sea Scroll scans to be published online
Israel Antiquities Authority colloborates with Google to make high-resolution images freely accessible on internet


High-resolution images of the 2,000-year-old Dead Sea Scrolls are to be published on the internet, it was announced today.

The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), custodian of the scrolls that shed light on the life of Jews and early Christians at the time of Jesus, said it was collaborating with Google's research and development centre in Israel to upload digitised images of the entire collection.

Advanced imaging technology will be installed in the IAA's laboratories early next year and high-resolution images of each of the scrolls' 30,000 fragments will be freely accessible online. The IAA conducted a pilot imaging project of a similar nature in 2008.

"The images will be equal in quality to the actual physical viewing of the scrolls, thus eliminating the need for re-exposure of the scrolls and allowing their preservation for future generations," the IAA said in a statement.

It said the new technology would help to make clear writing that has faded over the centuries, and would promote further research into one of the most important archaeological finds of the 20th century.

The scrolls, most of them on parchment, are the oldest copies of the Hebrew Bible and include secular text dating from the third century BC to the first century AD.

For many years after Bedouin shepherds discovered the scrolls in caves near the Dead Sea in 1947, only a small number of scholars were allowed to view the fragments. But access has since been widened and they were published in their entirety nine years ago.

A few large pieces of scroll are on permanent display at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.


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copied from:
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20101021/world-news/israel-to-put-dead-sea-scrolls-online

Israel to put Dead Sea scrolls online

The Dead Sea scrolls, containing some of the oldest-known surviving biblical texts, are to go online as part of a collaboration between Israeli antiquities authorities and Google, according to developers.

The €2.5 million project by the Israeli Antiquities Authority and the internet giant’s local R&D division aims to use space-age technology to produce the clearest renderings yet of the ancient scrolls and make them available free of charge to the public.

“This is the most important discovery of the 20th century, and we will be sharing it with the most advanced technology of the next century,” IAA project director Pnina Shor said in Jerusalem.

The IAA will begin by using multi-spectral imaging technology developed by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration to produce high-resolution images of the sometimes-faded texts that may reveal new letters and words.

They will then partner with Google to place the images online in a searchable database complemented by translation and other scholarly tools.

“Imagine a world where everybody with an internet connection is able to access the most important works of human history,” Google’s Israel R&D director Yossi Mattias said. He remarked that the project would build on similar efforts by Google to put the public domain material of several European libraries online.

Ms Shor said the first images should be posted online in the next few months, with the project completed within five years.

“From the minute all of this will go online there will be no need to expose the scrolls anymore, and anyone in his office or (on) his couch will be able to see it,” she said.

The 900 biblical and other manuscripts, comprising some 30,000 fragments, were discovered between 1947 and 1956 in the Qumran caves above the Dead Sea and photographed in their entirety with infra-red technology in the 1950s.

The parchment and papyrus scrolls contain Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic writing, and include several of the earliest-known texts from the Bible, including the oldest surviving copy of the Ten Commandments.

The oldest of the documents dates to the third century BC and the most recent to about 70 AD, when Roman troops destroyed the Second Jewish Temple in Jerusalem.

The artefacts are housed at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, where the larger pieces are shown at the dimly lit Shrine of the Book on a rotational basis in order to minimise damage from exposure.

When not on show, they are kept in a dark, climate-controlled storeroom in conditions similar to those in the Qumran caves, where the humidity, temperature and darkness preserved the scrolls for two millennia.
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jerrys1960
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Joined: 23 Aug 2009
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 21, 2010 3:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

copied from:
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20100204/world-news/four-women-battle-to-bring-dead-sea-scrolls-back-to-life


Thursday, 4th February 2010

Archaeology
Four women battle to bring Dead Sea Scrolls back to life
Patrick Moser, AFP

The only four people in the world allowed to touch the 2000-year-old Dead Sea Scrolls are battling a resilient enemy: Sticky tape.

Their weapons: tweezers, tiny brushes and infinite patience.

"I don't consider it as work, I consider it as a blessing," says Tanya Treiger as she runs a scalpel-like instrument around the contours of a small piece of parchment with slow, deliberate and sparing movements.

Ms Treiger is one of four women, all immigrants from the former Soviet Union, in charge of the conservation and restoration of the famed scrolls found half a century ago on the shores of the Dead Sea.

Their job is to ensure the manuscripts on show are exhibited in ideal conditions and to restore the tens of thousands of fragments that suffered not only from the ravages of time but also from past conservation efforts.

Day after day for the past 18 years, they have painstakingly removed adhesive tape that was used decades ago to join matching fragments.

"Scotch tape was just invented and at the time it sounded like a good solution," says Pnino Shor, who heads the Department of Artefacts Treatment and Conservation at the Israeli Antiquities Authority.

"But in the 1960s it became clear it was a disaster," she says. "Residues of tape penetrated the parchment and caused its disintegration."

The conservators, working at a small IAA lab at Jerusalem's Israel Museum, will need at least another 18 years to complete the job of restoring the fragments, says Mr Shor.

"What they're doing is really a first-aid treatment," she says pointing to one of the women dabbing tiny amounts of organic solvent to remove tape residue and adhesive that has penetrated the parchment.

"If we're lucky, it comes back to life and the writing becomes clearer." Once the fragments are treated, they are arranged on acid-free cardboard, and stored in protective boxes.

Those prepared for exhibition, are placed in polyester netting pockets enclosed between polycarbonate plates.

The fragments are considered one of the world's most important archaeological finds, and make up about 900 documents of major religious and historical significance.

Discovered between 1947 and 1956 in the Qumran caves above the Dead Sea, the precious parchments and papyrus include religious texts written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, and the oldest known surviving Old Testament.

The oldest of the documents dates to the third century BC and the most recent to about 70 AD, when Roman troops destroyed the second Jewish temple in Jerusalem.

"They were all written in a crucial period of history of western civilisation when Judaism and Christianity were crystallising into the religions we know today," says Mr Shor.

"The scrolls teach us of our common origins."

The artefacts are housed at the Israel Museum, where the larger pieces are shown at the dimly-lit Shrine of the Book on a rotation basis to minimise damage from exposure.

When not on show, they are kept in a dark, climate-controlled storeroom in conditions similar to those in the Qumran caves, where the humidity, temperature and darkness preserved the scrolls for two millennia.

"If we can preserve them for 2,000 years more we will have done our share," says Mr Shor.

The custodians of the scrolls are extraordinarily careful in lending some of the parchments for exhibits outside Israel.

They are particularly concerned that utmost care is taking in packaging and shipping, and that conditions replicate those of the Shrine of the Book.

Another concern is Jordan's claim of ownership.

Jordan says Israel seized the scrolls from a museum in east Jerusalem in 1967 when it occupied that part of the city and the West Bank, which were then under Jordanian control.

Israel has laughed off the claims, insisting the scrolls are an intrinsic part of the Jewish religious, cultural and historic heritage, and have no connection whatsoever to Jordan.
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