August 26, 2008
Coming Soon, Online: the Dead Sea Scrolls
If ever there were a time to follow the best practices for document digitization, this is it: Researchers in Israel are working to put fragile fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls on the Internet, according to The New York Times.
The famed scrolls, which contain the first known versions of books from the Hebrew Bible, represent a unique conservation challenge. They comprise about 900 documents, pieced together from a grand total of 15,000 smaller fragments. And the writing on the scrolls has already deteriorated — because 2,000-year-old ink is far from fade-resistant, and because the Scotch tape added by scholars in the 1950s didn’t exactly help matters.
The digitization project should help the Israel Antiquities Authority, which oversees the scrolls, improve access to the documents without exposing them to light, heat, and other threats. But it will take one or two years to get the scrolls online: A team of scholars, including faculty members from Kings College London and the University of Haifa, has to photograph every surviving piece of the scrolls in both color and infrared. —Brock Read
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digital reconstruction and preservation of objects and sites are not only the future of archaeology and museum conservation, they are the present. this is something that several of us in the fields of archaeology, near eastern studies, and the digital humanities have been working towards for some time now. i applaud the iaa for their decision to preserve these important documents and make them available for study online. not only will this digitization process help preserve the texts, but the process of high-resolution infrared photography will actually lead to new discoveries and innovations in scrolls studies. digital work like that done by simon tanner of the king’s digital consultancy services at king’s college london and bruce zuckerman and marilyn lundberg of the west semitic research project at usc is essential to the preservation of ancient texts and archaeological objects. likewise, the accessibility of digital objects online increases visibility of these important pieces of history and drives both academic research and museum attendance. the iaa has taken a strong step in the right direction and should be applauded for their decision.
— robert r. cargill Aug 26, 10:27 PM #
This is a great move for biblical scholars. Too bad it took such a turmoil to bring all of the scroll materials into the public arena. One hope that this process will be handled better.
— Bob Spender Aug 27, 07:41 AM #
It’s about time. Hurrah for those scholars who published prompted and phooey on the “dogs in a manger” who could not or would publish but kept the rest of scholars at bay too long. I was too uneducated in 1947 but 20 years later I could have worked with the scrolls. Four decades later, I am too old to begin. Thanks for nothing. BAR was on the money but was only a voice crying in the wilderness.
— Scott Catledge Aug 27, 02:17 PM #
For information on USC’s West Semitic Research Project — Ancient images and commentary relating to the Bible and the ancient Near East , see http://www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/wsrp/
— Martin Levine Aug 27, 03:12 PM #
This field never ceases to generate controversy. Museum exhibits have been abusively slanted towards an increasingly disputed theory, and plagiarism charges have surfaced against Lawrence Schiffman, author of the popular book “Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls.” See
http://www.nowpublic.com/world/plagiarism-and-dead-sea-scrolls-did-nyu-department-chairman-pilfer-chicago-historian-s-work
— View from Here Aug 31, 02:45 AM #