Conservation

I've just discovered an interesting article, whilst trying to look for some new resources, which is about the difficulties faced in in the conservation and restoration of the dead sea scrolls -it's a bit old but it should be facinating nonetheless. At the time when the article was written one of the biggest threats was sticky tape!

The 4 women in charge of the conservation and restoration of the dead sea scrolls have spent the last 18 years painstakingly trying to remove the stickytape from the scrolls, and I think it's safe to say that efforts are still being made. The sticky tape had just been invented at the time when it was applied to matching fragments. The sticky tape is a problem because over the years it bas penetrated through the tiny parchments which has caused severe disintegration. The link to the article can be found in the resources list.

The picture below illustrates just how tiny some of the fragments are which makes it easy to understand why they used the sticky tape in the first place:



Resources:

Moser, P 2010, 'Battle to save famed scrolls,' Murcury (Tasmania, Australia), 5 March, eLibrary, viewed 25 April 2010.

Handout, 2000, 'This ancient fragment of the Dead Seas Scrolls was written over 2000 years ago. It contains a commentary on the biblical verses of Hosea 2:8-14. In March 2000, The Field Museum in Chicago, Illinois wi,' Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service, 10 March, eLibrary, viewed on the 25 April 2010.

The people who wrote the scrolls

This week I will be looking for information about the people who wrote the scrolls. Throughout my research I will be trying to find answers for the following questions:

Who wrote the scrolls?
What were they like?
Why did they write the scrolls?
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Again it was not difficult to find information on this subject. There was so much information that I had to dig through that it was quite exhausting. With all the information I found I could probably write a book on the subject if I wanted to. But for the purpose of trying not to make these posts too long I had to be very selective when it came to actually using the information since it would be easy in this case to sway away from the subject which is the Dead Sea Scrolls, not religious sects.
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The Qumran-Essenes were divided into two groups: the monastic brotherhood at Qumran and the urban sectarians.

The monastic brotherhood at Qumran was devoted to holiness, piety and the contemplative life. Although there is no reference to mundane cares and occupations it is thought that this group worked as farmers, potters and produces of manuscripts.

The monastic brotherhood at Qumran was organized into a strict hierarchical order which from the most important to the least included: the priests, the elders and the remaining people –the latter was also divided into a hierarchical order which from the most important to the least included: the master who functioned as a teacher, the guardian who functioned as the president and ‘the man appointed’ who functioned as the spiritual assessor.

The urban sectarians lived in towns and villages throughout Judea. This group married and had children and worked in businesses which meant that they often communicated with Jews and Gentiles –which was forbidden in the monastic brotherhood.

The groups although separate were united in documenting of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Resources:

Lim, T 2005, The dead Sea scrolls, a very short introduction, Oxford University Press, Oxford, viewed 2 April 2010.

Charlesworth, JH 2006, The bible and the dead sea scrolls, vol 1, scripture and the scrolls, Baylor University Press, Waco, viewed 2 April 2010.

The scrolls

This week I will be looking at the nature of the scrolls. Throughout my research I will be trying to answer the following questions:

What were the scrolls made out of?
What language(s) are the scrolls written in?
When were the scrolls written?
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Again I didn't have a lot of trouble with this week's research. The ebooks so far have been very usefull. Besides the ebooks I was impressed with the crystalinks website because not only was there quite a lot of information about the Dead Sea Scrolls but the pictures were also very interesting.
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The number of scrolls that were found vary between 800-900 documents. It is difficult to determine the exact number because the scrolls have suffered extensive deterioration which has left many of the scrolls incomplete. Some of the scrolls include large portions of the original undamaged text, some include one or more columns of writings and at worst some include only a tiny piece of text. There are about 25,000 fragments altogether.

The closest scroll to being complete is the Great Isaiah Scroll which contains all 66 chapters of the prophecy of Isaiah. The Habakkuk Pesher and the Rule of the Community also come close to being complete. The picture on the left shows one of best preserved scrolls in the collection.

The scrolls were written by a group of Jews who lived apart from the rest of the society because they believed that they were ‘pure’ and that the others were corrupt. The scrolls were written on papyrus between the third Century BC -68 CE in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. At the time the site was regularly used as a garrison site by the Romans in preparations for their conquest of Masada. The current theory is that the Qumran community hid the scrolls probably as a result of Roman threats during the time of the two great teachers Hillel and Jesus.



Photo of a papyrus plant.

The scrolls can be dated to three periods: archaic (250-150BCE), Hasmonaean (150-30BCE) and Herodian (30BCE -70CE).

Resources:

Lim, T 2005, The dead Sea scrolls, a very short introduction, Oxford University Press, Oxford, viewed 2 April 2010.

Charlesworth, JH 2006, The bible and the dead sea scrolls, vol 1, scripture and the scrolls, Baylor University Press, Waco, viewed 2 April 2010.

Dead sea scrolls, crystalinks, 2 April 2010, http://www.crystalinks.com/dss.html

Cyprus papyrus, wikipedia, viewed Friday 28 2010,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyperus_papyrus

The location and the caves

This week I will be looking at some of the religious artifcats which have been found over the years prior to the Dead Sea Scrolls. Throughout my research I will be trying to find answers to the following questions:

Previous diggings at or nearby the site
Prior to the discovery which Bible locations received the most attention?
What were some of the biggest religious discovers prior to the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls?
Why were those discoveries so important? Why was the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls so important?
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Again the answers above were quite easy to find because there are hundreds of websites on the subject. Over the years archeologists have found plenty of religious artificats which have caused quite a lot of excitement. The hardest part of this research was trying to decide which examples to use since there was so many to choose from.
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Prior to the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran the site had not recieved much attention from archeologists which explains why the scrolls were found by accident.

Biblical sites such as Jurusalem and Jericho generally recieved the most attention. Jurusalem has regularly been escavated over the years because not only is it Israel's capitol and one of the oldest cities in the world, it is also the location of many key religious sites. Jericho has also been regularly escavated over the years because it is home to one of the oldest known settlesments in the world.



Modern-day Jerusalem



Modern-day City of Jericho

The bible has always facinated archeologists and over the years there has been plenty of religious escavations. For example in 1929 archeologist Leonard Wolley found two layers of artifacts in the Sumeriun city of Ur. Wolley was able to use the layer of alluviam -a type of sidement formed by flowing water- to date the artifact back to 3500 bc, the time of the Great Flood. Some archeologists have even claimed that they have discovered bits of the ship itself. Some other religious artifacts which have been found include: an Egyption stone which celebrates the pharaoh's victory over his enemies -which Israel was included, and a stone which mentioned the 'House of David.'

As always religious escavations are important because they help to determine the realiability of the Bible.

Resources:

Aron, PD 2005, 'Chapter 1 origins and early civilisations, did Noah's ark really exist?' in Mysteries in history, from pre-history to the present, Santa Barbara, pp.15-18, viewed on April 9 2010.

Bolen, T 2010, BiblePlaces.com, viewed April 9 2010, http://www.bibleplaces.com/index.htm

Strachan, RA 2010, Jericho, viewed April 9 2010, http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/archaeology/sites/middle_east/jericho.html

Smith, MH 2008, Jericho, American Theological Library Association Selected Region Website, viewed April 9 2010, http://virtualreligion.net/iho/jericho.html

Discovery

This week I'm going to focus on gathering information on the discovery of the dead sea scrolls. Throughout my research I will be trying to find answers for the following questions:

What are the Dead Sea Scrolls?
Who discovered the Dead Sea Scrolls?
When were the Dead Sea Scrolls found?
Where were the Dead Sea Scrolls found?
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This information was relatively easy to find. This is not surprising because the Dead Sea Scrolls are well-known throughout the world. In particular I was pleased to discover that the Swinburne Library had a large collection of online resources such as ebooks etc which I found particularly useful. I also found plenty of websites on the subject. Therefore I have not come across any research difficulties yet.
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The main reason why the Dead Sea Scrolls fascinate so many is because the scrolls give us a rare insight into the origins of our culture and the faith of Jews and Christians today.


The accidental discovery occurred in early 1947 when three young shepherds from the Ta’amereh Bedouin tribe were in the vicinity of the springs ‘Ein-Feshkha’ –about two miles from Khirbit Qumran. One evening when searching for a lost cattle one of the shepherds named Jam’a threw a stone into one of the many caves surrounding the cliffs. The shepherd was surprised to hear a loud crash emanate from within it but because it was dark the men decided to investigate further the next day. The following morning Muhammed Ed-Dib was the first to entre the cave and, in one of the numerous stone jars, each about two feet high, he found three manuscripts, two wrapped in linen cloth.



-This picture shows Cave no.1



-This picture shows some of the pottery which was found near the site.

The cave where he found the manuscripts was since dubbed cave 1 and it’s discovery eventually lead to the discovery of 10 more caves between 1947-1956. The Dead Sea Scrolls have been described as one of the twentieth century’s most important discoveries. You can learn more about the discovery etc by watching the following clip (part 1 of three) from youtube:



Resources:

Lim, T 2005, The dead Sea scrolls, a very short introduction, Oxford University Press, Oxford, viewed 2 April 2010.

Charlesworth, JH 2006, The bible and the dead sea scrolls, vol 1, scripture and the scrolls, Baylor University Press, Waco, viewed 2 April 2010.

Hirst, K.K 2010, Map of the dead sea caves, the dead sea scrolls, About.com, viewed 2 April 2010, http://archaeology.about.com/od/biblicalarchaeology/ig/Dead-Sea-Scrolls/Map-of-the-Dead-Sea-Caves.htm

Dead sea scrolls, crystalinks, 2 April 2010, http://www.crystalinks.com/dss.html

g8trman77, In search of dead sea scrolls, youtube, viewed 28 April 2010,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaUEZBnztd8