New research has revealed hidden text in fragments of the famous Dead Sea Scrolls, unearthed in the Judaean desert in 1946.
The fragments kept in University of Manchester’s John Rylands Library were previously thought to be blank.
But a new investigation by Professor Joan Taylor of King’s College London) used multispectral imaging to reveal hidden text in Hebrew and Aramaic including the word ‘Shabbat’ (Sabbath).
 |
| The text was revealed by multispectral photograph |
The Scrolls contained versions of many Biblical texts - including books which were not canonised in the Hebrew Bible, such as ‘Jubilees’.
The Scrolls consist of tens of thousands of fragments of parchment and papyrus which are thought to belong to up to 1,000 different manuscripts.
Unlike the recent cases of forgeries assumed to be Dead Sea Scrolls fragments, all of these small pieces were unearthed in the official excavations of the Qumran caves.
In the 1950s, the fragments were gifted by the Jordanian government to Ronald Reed, leather expert at the University of Leeds, so he could study their physical and chemical composition.
It was assumed that the pieces were ideal for scientific tests, as they were blank and relatively worthless.
When examining the fragments for the new study, Professor Taylor thought it possible that one of them did actually contain a letter, and therefore decided to photograph all of the existing fragments, using multispectral imaging.
It was established that four fragments have readable Hebrew/Aramaic text written in carbon-based ink.
The most substantial fragment has the remains of four lines of text with 15-16 letters, most of which are only partially preserved, but the word Shabbat (Sabbath) can be clearly read.
 |
Unlocking the secrets of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Professor Alan Crown -- Prof Alan Crown with a copy of the Oxford Collection of the dead Sea Scrolls Pix at Sydney University.A Sydney professor will fly to Jerusalem next month for a historic meeting to decide how to unlock the secrets of the Dead Sea Scrolls.Professor Alan Crown, head of the department of Semitic Studies at Sydney University, will join five other scroll editors from around the world to decide how the scrolls will be released for public study.As director of the Oxford Center for Hebrew Studies in the UK, Professor Crown has sole responsibility for publishing one of the four authorised collections of the scrolls. October 10, 1991.
|
“Looking at one of the fragments with a magnifying glass, I thought I saw a small, faded letter - a lamed, the Hebrew letter 'L',” said Professor Taylor.
“Frankly, since all these fragments were supposed to be blank and had even been cut into for leather studies, I also thought I might be imagining things. But then it seemed maybe other fragments could have very faded letters too.”
“With new techniques for revealing ancient texts now available, I felt we had to know if these letters could be exposed. There are only a few on each fragment, but they are like missing pieces of a jigsaw puzzle you find under a sofa.”
 |
| In November 1951, a full excavation of Qumran had commenced. By the end of 1952, five more caves had been discovered, each giving up yet more scrolls and fragments. In fact, 90% of the total number of scrolls discovered were found in Cave 4. Pictured: scrolls in situ. |
 |
| In 1947, the scrolls caught the attention of American biblical scholar and archaeologist John C. Trever, who quickly realized the historical importance of these rare finds. |
 |
| Another of the original finds included the Genesis Apocryphon (pictured). The document records a conversation between the biblical figure Lamech, son of Methuselah, and his son, Noah. |
 |
| The seven original scrolls are housed in the purpose-built Shrine of the Book, with the Isaiah scroll a central exhibit. Also housed here is the Aleppo Codex, a medieval bound manuscript of the Hebrew Bible. |
