From the desert to the web

This isn't the blog entry I planned to post this week, that one will have to wait until next time.  As of today, September 27 2011, as the new year approaches on the Hebrew calendar, five of the Dead Sea Scrolls can be viewed online.  Up until now a visit the Israel's national museum would have been required to see the scrolls but now a new website, developed in partnership between the museum and Google gives users around the world access to searchable, fast-loading images of the scrolls, as well as short videos and background information on the texts and their history.  The images can be zoomed in and out for better viewing and the most minute details can be seen thanks to the high resolution photographs which are almost 200 times clearer than those taken with the average consumer camera.  There is an option to select from the various chapters and verses and an English translation tool is available.  The five scrolls that have been digitized so far are the Great Isaiah Scroll, the Community Rule Scroll, the Commentary on Habakkuk Scroll, the Temple Scroll and the War Scroll. 

Source: The Christian Science Monitor website

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2011/0927/Dead-Sea-Scrolls-online-a-window-on-Judaism-in-the-time-of-Jesus-VIDEO

Check out the video below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rYj_0foJYA&feature=player_embedded

In my next post I will  write about the transition of the scrolls from the desert to the rest of the world.

Discovery

One day in 1947 a Bedouin shepherd named Jum'a Muhammed was looking for a lost goat that had wandered among the rocky cliffs in a place known as Khirbet Qumran, by the shores of the Dead Sea.  He peered into an opening in the rocks but could see nothing however when he threw in some stones he heard the sound of breaking pottery.  As it was getting dark he returned the next day with his two cousins, one of whom cleared away some rocks and wriggled inside into the cave.  Inside were a number of pottery jars, most of which were empty although a few of them contained musty old scrolls of parchment wrapped in cloth.  Being poor illiterate shepherds they were disappointed that they had not found anything they could recognise as valuable yet they took them back to their camp.  Later on when they took the scrolls to Bethlehem no-one they spoke to had any idea what they were but someone suggested taking them to the shop of the local bootmaker who also happened to be a part-time antiques dealer.  He realised they might be worth something and paid the men roughly $7 and agreed to share any profits from the eventual sale of the scrolls, he also agreed to become their agent for any subsequent finds.  The bootmaker and a friend of his were both Syrian Orthodox Christians and during Holy Week of 1947 the friend mentioned the scrolls to one of the clergy in a Jerusalem church who bought four of the scrolls for $34.  Meanwhile a well-respected archaeologist named Eleazar Sukenik who worked at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem had been offered two complete scolls plus some fragments from another dealer and recognising the similarity of the script to that which he had seen on grave inscriptions he had studied, realised they were authentic.  He immediately purchased them on behalf of the University and a few months later in December 1947, obtained a further scroll from the same source.  His purchases turned out to be the Book of Isaiah, the Thanksgiving Hymns, and the War Scroll.  They were to give the world a glimpse of the strange world of secterian Jewish life during the turbulent last centuries between the Old and New Testaments. 

Between 1951 and 1956 a total of 11 caves had been excavated each containing some literary remains.  The total fragments discovered represent the remains of around 850 scrolls, but in only ten cases has more than 50 percent of the original scroll survived and only 1 scroll can be called complete. 

 Example of a jar in which the scrolls were found.

Text from one of the two Isaiah scrolls.

View of the Qumran caves were the scrolls were discovered.

The Dead Sea Scrolls

Research Brief

The topic I have chosen for my assignment is the Dead Sea Scrolls, one of archaeology's greatest mysteries.  I'd heard about them but knew very little and was curious to learn more.  There's always been an air of mystery and fascination about them.  They are the largest, oldest body of manuscripts found that relate to the Bible and the time of Jesus, as well as being a commentary of what life was like for the Essene sect, a community of Jewish ascetics, i.e. people who renounce all material comfort and lead a life of austerity.  Fragments of every book of the Hebrew Old Testament except one, have been discovered in the find.  Mostly in Hebrew, some of the scrolls are written in Aramaic and a few in Greek.  Initially discovered by accident in a cave in the village of Qumran, by the Dead Sea, by a humble Bedouin shepherd while looking for his lost goat, further searching located more documents in a total of eleven caves, resulting in over 900 fragments of the ancient scrolls.  They were most likely written during the period between 200BC-68AD, it is believed that they were hidden in the caves to protect them against the advancing Roman army during the outbreak of the First Jewish Revolt in 66AD-70AD.  There they remained until their discovery in 1949.

I plan to use several books, encyclopedias and websites to research the content and the historical importance of the scrolls, as well as the personalities involved in bringing them out into the open and making them available to the public.  I will follow the developments that have taken place in their care right up to present day, including the exciting concept of the scrolls going digital and being made available online for all to see later this year.  I will attach photographs and images to enhance my assignment.  I shall sift through the online information and select facts from reliable sources only.  I hope to present an essay that is informative and interesting.