Dead Sea Scrolls

Yesterday I went with a couple of friends to see the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit on its last day in Seattle. It was a very thorough display, including information about how the scrolls were found, archaeology, geography, coins that were over 2000 years old, information about the Essenes who probably wrote out these texts including artifacts they would have used in their daily life, and then at the end, pieces of the actual scrolls, which are over 2000 years old. They are kept in a dark room in glass cases. A dim light comes on in the cases periodically so you can look at them, but they don't have light continually shining so that they can try to slow down the process of disintegration. Too bad about the tape they used to piece together scrolls when they were first found in the late 40's to early 50's, and even later. That sure didn't help to preserve them in the long run. Something I found very interesting is that they are using DNA to help piece together bits of the scrolls, because most of them were written on parchment (animal hide), so they can match up pieces from the same animal. Another amazing thing about the scrolls is that they were much tinier than I expected. The text was very small and in perfect straight lines. The Dead Sea Scrolls are a fascinating part of history and religion, which I am glad I have had a chance to learn about.