Google helps Dead Sea Scrolls enter internet age

Discussion in 'Your Religion & Spiritual Corner' started by Caribbean, Oct 21, 2010.

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  1. Caribbean

    Caribbean New Member

    Sixty years after a shepherd happened upon the Dead Sea Scrolls, a plan aims to bring them into the internet age.

    Researchers at the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), aided by scientists at Google, plan to image the 2,000-year old documents and publish them online.

    The collection of biblical texts are made up of 30,000 fragments which together comprise 900 manuscripts.

    The high-resolution images will be made available for free in original form and with translations.


    "This project will enrich and preserve an important and meaningful part of world heritage by making it accessible to all on the internet," said professor Yossi Matias, of Google-Israel.

    "We shall continue with this historical effort to make all existing knowledge in archives and storages available to all."

    The scrolls, which include texts form the Hebrew Bible, are currently housed at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

    Only a small portion of the larger fragments are ever displayed to minimise damage.
    Fragment of dead sea scroll The fragments will be imaged using several different wavelengths

    When not on show, they are kept in a dark, climate-controlled storeroom.

    The new project will digitally image every Scroll fragment in various wavelengths. It is hoped that infra-red images may expose letters currently invisible to the naked eye

    The images will then be uploaded to a searchable online database, allowing scholars around the world to pore over their details.

    "We are establishing a milestone connection between progress and the past to preserve this unique heritage for future generations," said Shuka Dorfman, the current head of the IAA.

    "The public with a click of the mouse will be able to freely access history in its fullest glamour."

    The scrolls were discovered by a Bedouin shepherd in the Qumran caves above the Dead Sea in the mid-1940s.

    They have been described as "one of the most important archaeological finds of the 20th Century".

    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 first images will go online in the coming months.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11594674
     
  2. Caribbean

    Caribbean New Member

    Super-scope' to see hidden texts

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6991893.stm
     
  3. rev

    rev New Member

    Something similar is Codex Sinaiticus which is now online:
    http://codexsinaiticus.org/en/

    Here is a brief description of what is there:
     
  4. Jazza

    Jazza Saved by Grace Thru Christ Jesus

    It is amazing that these scrolls have been found so recently and so intact.

    With modern technology they can restore even more than what was able to be seen by the naked eye.

    I would love to be able to read some if it for myself but I haven't applied myself enough to learning Greek and Hebrew. I will just have to remain content with reading the translated Bible in English.
     
  5. SMRoz

    SMRoz Coast Guard Dizzy! (Ret)

    Wow I think this is a really great thread. Thanks for the information
     
  6. Caribbean

    Caribbean New Member

    You have to love technology...
     
  7. hollymm

    hollymm Me, 'in' a tree.

    I think it's a crock. The dead sea scrolls. What about all the scrolls that are even now kept from view because almost 2000 years ago a group of select people had the power to determine what was going to go into the bible and what was not. Even now, those written words are locked up somewhere because they may have something written on them that would tear the churches apart and actually bring mankind to one belief.

    Why would the church keep something so magnificent from it's people. Tell me I watch too many movies or listen to too many people and none of what I say makes any sense. And that there isn't anything more out there that may bring us to a closer understanding as to what is real and what is given to us as real.

    The technology is here. The need is here. The desire to know all there is to be known within a religious context is here. Why are we kept in the dark?
     
  8. June-

    June- New Member

    I am not sure what you are referring to. THey have not been a secret. They weren't in condition to just unroll and read. They were in shreds and had to be pieced together. It took years.
     
  9. hollymm

    hollymm Me, 'in' a tree.

    So, who decided (decides) what was going in and what wasn't. Is it a religious affiliated faction that is interpreting them?

    My point was poorly put perhaps. What was meant was that for every religious script found, isn't there some portion of a religious group that has access to them and interprets them with a bias toward their own religious faith?
     
  10. June-

    June- New Member

    I don't find fault with the idea that religious writings have changed over the years. The Bible started out as oral tradition and was copied and no doubt altered through the years. To this day, I believe there are differences in what some groups accept vs others.

    I think the dead sea scrolls would be one of the least subject to this because it was found in recent years and scholars have had access to it from the beginning I believe. We could argue whether it matters what these people wrote down a couple thousand years ago because they were a religious sect and had bias. Is that your point? If so I have no argument. If you are questioning the whole idea of holy writings, then I am not sure it particularly applies to the dead sea scrolls. I am not sure any group considers them a holy scripture. I guess I am not clear on your idea here.
     
  11. hollymm

    hollymm Me, 'in' a tree.

    Yes, I do speak to the original writing of the Bible and more (or so I thought). I must be mistaken about the dead sea scrolls as I thought they were of a religious nature. I understand your reply that at this day and age, misinterpretations should not exsist because we have the technology to write directly what they mean but as with any language a misused word, punction mark or inability to find the word within the translation, performed may alter the original meaning of the text.

    Maybe I'm being to picky or am to much a neophyte to speak with any real intelligence about religious documents but hopefully this time I explained what I meant so we can both come to some understanding of what we are both saying. How 'bout it?
     
  12. June-

    June- New Member

    It is my understanding that these scrolls contain some books of the Hebrew Bible as we know it today and some that are not currently part of the Bible as we know it today. I think they will be very interesting in terms of historical understanding. I think they are only important, supportive or threatening to people who hold certain scriptures as written previously as literal word of God to be parsed it to their own advantage. I don't so that is no issue for me. I don' think most religious people feel threatened by them, more excited to see what else can be found that explains ancient scriptures. Maybe some body is out there trying to alter or hide the originals but I don't think so. THose who don't like what it says will just say it is bogus and be done with it.
     
  13. hollymm

    hollymm Me, 'in' a tree.

    "THose who don't like what it says will just say it is bogus and be done with it."

    That's the truth of it for sure!
     
  14. Jordan

    Jordan New Member

    I understand your point, Holly. As I have mentioned before, Muslims believe that many of the oldest Biblical scriptures were deliberately hidden and/or altered. It is a huge deal, especially when it comes to scriptures that foretell the coming of Muhammed or which portray Jesus as a prophet and not God or the son of God. Each branch of Christianity and Judaism has its own canon (body of scriptures accepted as holy or inspired)...with certain scriptures deliberately excluded. Translations are another huge issue that can't be ignored.

    Besides the Dead Sea Scrolls, there have been other interesting finds like the Nag Hammadi Library and the Gospel of Barnabas. I am no expert on any of the above, but I do enjoy reading about such topics in my spare time.
     
  15. hollymm

    hollymm Me, 'in' a tree.

    Thanks Jordan - I appreciate the understanding. I like learning new stuff too. I just can't read the books anymore because it's too much eye movement (dizzies). Don't know why reading the computer doesn't get to me.

    I really enjoy this particular forum. Although I don't have a specific religious base beief, I still have a belief and truly enjoy hearing about others experiences.
     

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