Dead Sea Scrolls in cyperspace

Dead Sea Scrolls in cyperspace

  •   Bringing ancient manuscripts into cyberspace
  • 11/30/2011
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    ​The Dead Sea Scrolls can now be examined in glorious high definition, thanks to the Israel Museum and Google Israel.
  • The Google team digitizing the ancient scrolls (Photo: Ardon Bar Hama)
     
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    When the high priests of an isolated Jewish sect hid a series of mystical manuscripts in the Judean Desert more than 2,000 years ago, little did they imagine that one day the whole world would be able to explore and examine their minutest details, using technologies developed by Google Israel's R&D center.
     
    The story of how the Dead Sea Scrolls were accidentally discovered by a bored Bedouin shepherd boy who tossed a rock into a cave opening on the craggy hills overlooking the northwestern Dead Sea, only to hear it bounce off a clay jar, is part of local legend. Following this revelation, between 1947 and 1956 archeologists found eight complete scrolls and myriad fragments of other manuscripts in 11 caves, dating from the third century BCE to the first century CE.
     
    Since 1965, millions of visitors have viewed the light-sensitive scrolls in glass cases at the Israel Museum's iconic Shrine of the Book in Jerusalem. They include the Great Isaiah Scroll, dating from around 125 BCE, the only complete ancient copy of any biblical book in existence. "The Scrolls have a mysterious, magnetic hold on people," said Israel Museum Director James S. Snyder. "They are touchstones of Western monotheistic religious heritage and are of paramount importance. Now, through our partnership with Google, we are able to bring these treasures to the broadest possible public."
     
    "The Internet has broken down the barriers between people and information," pointed out Prof. Yossi Matias, managing director of Google's R&D Center in Israel, speaking at the launch of the Digital Dead Sea Scrolls website on September 26. "Our job is to facilitate - to bring life to the over 1,000 verses of the Isaiah Scroll, for example." Matias said anyone can easily send the image of a favorite passage to friends via social networks. "This project enriches and preserves an important part of world heritage by making it accessible to all."
     
     
    Contemporary technology, ancient content
     
    The new website gives users access to searchable, fast-loading, high-resolution images of the scrolls, as well as short explanatory videos and background information on the texts and their history. It is surprisingly easy to use.
     
    "Using the viewer or legend at the bottom of the screen you can navigate, zoom in and bring up passages to a level of detail far beyond the scope of the human eye at 1,200 megapixels," explained Eyal Miller, new business development manager at Google Israel. "English translations of the text are embedded throughout the scroll, with a dedicated URL for each and every verse."
     
    Image of the Community Rule scroll
     
    The Great Isaiah Scroll may be searched by column, chapter and verse, and is accompanied by an additional option for users to submit translations of verses in their own languages.
    Matias was previously involved in similar projects, including the Google Art Project, Yad Vashem Holocaust Collection and the Prado Museum in Madrid. "We have seen how people around the world can enhance their knowledge and understanding of key historical events by accessing documents and collections online. We hope to make all existing knowledge in historical archives and collections available to all," he said.
     
    "The Internet is not just about technology - it's about content," Snyder noted. "This is the most momentous content synergized with the latest technology. It represents the continuum of history and culture. What the Mona Lisa is to the Western world's esthetic traditions, the Dead Sea Scrolls are to its religious traditions.
     
    "When we take our website and synthesize it with Google's platform, something wonderful happens: We bring the scrolls into a contemporary context. High-resolution imagery will help to keep their contents in people's minds, to begin to understand and appreciate the meaning of these documents." Snyder was full of praise for the enterprise. "The whole project was carried out in less than six months, a timetable other institutions are struggling to achieve."
     
     
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    The images were painstakingly produced using the highest-resolution ultraviolet light cameras developed by Leaf Imaging, an Israeli company, column by column, stitched together into one shot via Google technology.
     
    "In the first stage we have digitalized five of the eight complete scrolls in the museum," explained Miller. "The next stages will be to digitalize the other three scrolls and complete the full Hebrew site, followed by translations into Chinese and European languages."
     
     
    More than artifacts
     
    The Dead Sea Scrolls offer critical insights into Jewish society in the Land of Israel during the Second Temple Period, the time of the birth of Christianity and rabbinic Judaism. Written in ink on parchment, some of the fragile, invaluable documents are stored in moisture-free vaults at the Shrine of the Book and are normally only seen by expert researchers.
     
    As well as the Great Isaiah Scroll, the website features digitized versions of the War Scroll, describing a confrontation between the "Sons of Light" and the "Sons of Darkness" that would last 49 years; the Temple Scroll, which claims to provide the details of God's instructions for the construction and operation of the Temple in Jerusalem; the Community Rule, a manual of discipline used by the Judean sect; and the Commentary on Habakkuk, a key source of knowledge of the spiritual life of the secluded Qumran community.
     
    At the press conference to launch the website, the inevitable question arose: Wouldn't the accessibility of such content on the Internet alleviate the need to actually see exhibits in museums? Absolutely not, retorted Snyder: "Putting stuff like this on the Internet engages people and actually brings them to the museums. The Israel Museum has had over one million visitors since it reopened last year, many of them inspired by visits to the museum's website."