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Schuetz R, Maragh JM, Weaver JC, et al. The Temple Scroll: Reconstructing an ancient manufacturing practice. Sci Adv. 2019;5(9):eaaw7494doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aaw7494.
Schuetz, R., Maragh, J. M., Weaver, J. C., Rabin, I., & Masic, A. (2019). The Temple Scroll: Reconstructing an ancient manufacturing practice. Science advances, 5(9), eaaw7494. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaw7494
Schuetz, Roman, et al. "The Temple Scroll: Reconstructing an ancient manufacturing practice." Science advances vol. 5,9 (2019): eaaw7494. doi: https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaw7494
Schuetz R, Maragh JM, Weaver JC, Rabin I, Masic A. The Temple Scroll: Reconstructing an ancient manufacturing practice. Sci Adv. 2019 Sep 06;5(9):eaaw7494. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aaw7494. eCollection 2019 Sep. PMID: 31523710; PMCID: PMC6731068.
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Sci Adv. 2019 Sep 06;5(9):eaaw7494. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aaw7494. eCollection 2019 Sep.

The Temple Scroll: Reconstructing an ancient manufacturing practice.

Science advances

Roman Schuetz, Janille M Maragh, James C Weaver, Ira Rabin, Admir Masic

Affiliations

  1. D-REAMS Radiocarbon Laboratory, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.
  2. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
  3. Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
  4. Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung, Berlin, Germany.
  5. Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures, Hamburg University, Hamburg, Germany.

PMID: 31523710 PMCID: PMC6731068 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aaw7494

Abstract

The miraculously preserved 2000-year-old Dead Sea Scrolls, ancient texts of invaluable historical significance, were discovered in the mid-20th century in the caves of the Judean desert. The texts were mainly written on parchment and exhibit vast diversity in their states of preservation. One particular scroll, the 8-m-long Temple Scroll is especially notable because of its exceptional thinness and bright ivory color. The parchment has a layered structure, consisting of a collagenous base material and an atypical inorganic overlayer. We analyzed the chemistry of the inorganic layer using x-ray and Raman spectroscopies and discovered a variety of evaporitic sulfate salts. This points toward a unique ancient production technology in which the parchment was modified through the addition of the inorganic layer as a writing surface. Furthermore, understanding the properties of these minerals is particularly critical for the development of suitable conservation methods for the preservation of these invaluable historical documents.

References

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  3. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2018 Jun 18;57(25):7288-7295 - PubMed

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