Dead Sea Scrolls now available online

Internet users can now view online five of the Dead Sea Scrolls that for the past decades have been kept in a climate-controlled display at Jerusalem’sIsraelMuseum.

The website, which was developed by the museum in partnership with Google, features separate pages for the Great Isaiah Scroll, the Community Rule Scroll, the Commentary on the Habakkuk Scroll, theTempleScroll, and the War Scroll.

These web pages come with a magnifying feature that enables online guests to scrutinize the high-definition digital version of the scroll. Aside from the magnifying feature, the web pages also include brief videos and description notes.

The aforementioned scrolls were captured through the use of a cutting-edge digital photography with a resolution of up to 1,200 megapixels each. This makes it possible for viewers to see even the minute details that are invisible to the naked eye. To lessen the risk of damaging the light-sensitive scrolls, photographer Ardon Bar-hama used UV protected flash tubes with an exposure of 1/4000th of a second.

Discovered between 1947 and 1956 in 11 caves near theDead Sea, these scrolls dates back from the third century B.C. to the first century A.D.

“We have seen how people around the world can enhance their knowledge and understanding of key historical events by accessing documents and collections online,” stated Yossi Matias, the managing director of Google’s Israeli Research and Development Center.

“We hope to make all existing knowledge in historical archives and collections available to all, including helping to put additional Dead Sea Scroll documents online.”