Google and the Dead Sea Scrolls

The Dead Sea is located in Judea and Jordan, about 15 miles east of Jerusalem. It is over 1000 feet deep and extremely salty. The Dead Sea has approximately ten times the salt content per unit than other bodies of salt water. Some parts contain the highest amount of salts possible, and it is the lowest body of water in the world. The Dead Sea is supplied by a number of smaller streams, springs, and the Jordan River. Because of its low elevation and its position in a deep basin, the climate of the Dead Sea area is unusual. Adjacent areas to it are very arid and favorable for the preservation of materials such as the Dead Sea Scrolls.

In 1947 in the Judean Desert, young Bedouin shepherds, searching for a stray goat, entered a long-deserted cave and found jars filled with ancient scrolls. The initial discovery of the jars by the Bedouins yielded seven scrolls and began a search that lasted nearly a decade and eventually produced thousands of scroll fragments from eleven caves. This also prompted an archaeological search for ancient inhabitance near the cave that might help identify the mysterious people who deposited the scrolls.

Archaeologists found and excavated the Qumran ruin, a complex of structures located on a barren terrace between the cave cliffs and the Dead Sea. Within a fairly short time after their discovery, historical, paleographic, and linguistic evidence, as well as carbon-14 dating, established that the scrolls and the Qumran ruin dated from the third century B.C.E. to 68 C.E. Coming from the late Second Temple Period, a time when Jesus of Nazareth lived, they are older than any other surviving biblical manuscripts by almost one thousand years

The scroll fragments recovered in the Qumran environs represent a voluminous body of documents. These are separated into 15,000 fragments that make up about 900 documents. Although the specific contents are argued among scholars, most agree that three main categories are biblical, apocryphal or pseudepigraphical, and sectarian. The biblical section contains the works found in the Hebrew Bible. All of the books of the Bible are represented in the Dead Sea Scroll collection with the exception of Esther. The apocryphal, of questionable authenticity or hidden, and pseudepigraphical, or falsely attributed works, contain those works which are omitted from various canons of the Bible and included in others. The sectarian collection includes those scrolls related to a pietistic commune and include ordinances, biblical commentaries, apocalyptic visions, and liturgical works.

The scrolls have caused extreme controversy among religious cultures and scholars. Some believe the Essenes, a monastic sect seen by some as a link to early Christianity, hid the scrolls during the Jewish revolt of the first century A.D. Others believe they were written in Jerusalem and stashed in caves at Qumran by Jewish refugees fleeing the Roman conquest of the city, also in the first century.

The scrolls are scholastically and religiously impactful as they are the earliest record of Jewish traditions and document the origin of Christian life. The scrolls are currently in the property of the Israeli government and reside in the Shrine of the Book in the Israel Museum. They have been held protectively amongst a small circle of scholars but have been circulated in the last 20 years. The larger fragments are circulated among museums throughout the world and the unpublished portion of the scrolls were published in the complete collection in 2001. The scrolls, in their entirety were also photographed through advanced infrared cameras, the same that NASA uses to photograph stars, and are accessible through the internet. This was a monumental but necessary step taken by the Israeli’s as the documents, even when stored in dry cool chambers and protected from light and humidity, are degrading. Some texts that were visible in the 1940’s are already illegible.

In October 2010, the Israel Antiquities Authority partnered with Google, who plans to have a Google based program that will have all images of the Dead Sea Scrolls, with transcriptions, translations, and bibliographies in a searchable format. Photographs will be taken in multiple angles and in various wavelengths. This is projected to be up and running within the next few months. Thus every person with internet access will be able to view these ancient and treasured texts that formerly only the most elite scholars had been able to witness. “This project will enrich and preserve an important and meaningful part of world heritage by making it accessible to all on the Internet,” said Yossi Matias, the director of Google-Israel R&D center. The ease of access will undoubtedly produce more interpretations and translations of the sacred texts that will greatly impact religious and scholarly thought.