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.