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From a charred Hebrew scroll, researchers resurrected one of the earliest known versions of the Old Testament using a new digital reconstruction technique that may prove invaluable in revealing words from other previously unreadable finds, said scientists who plan to make the imaging software freely available. In research published in Science Advances Wednesday, computer analysts at the University of Kentucky in Lexington detailed the technology they used to reveal text within a roll of parchment reduced to charcoal in a burning synagogue 1,500 years ago, “virtually unwrapping” the scroll without ever actually touching the artifact. While important to archaeologists, the...

Since the destruction of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE, the holy day of Yom Kippur has been observed with intense prayer and fasting. But the Bible mandates 15 specific sacrifices and many other rituals for Yom Kippur outlined in Leviticus chapter 16. This included the Kohen Gadol (high priest) wearing five different sets of garments, immersion in the mikvah (ritual bath) five times, and washing his hands and feet ten times. The temple service on Yom Kippur was the only time the Kohen Gadol entered the Kodesh Kedoshim (holy of holies) three times, the only day of...

2,700-year-old inscribed papyrus, a letter to 'Ishmael' written in early Hebrew script, joins only two others from biblical times. But that's just the beginning of the story...This 4-centimeter-high, 5-centimeter-wide (1.5 inch x 2 inches) fragment joins only two other known contemporary papyrus fragments inscribed with early Hebrew in the Land of Israel to date.The treasure hunt ended earlier this year after the IAA’s Eitan Klein located the owner of the exceedingly rare papyrus in the fittingly nicknamed Treasure State.The inscription is composed of four fragmented lines, the first of which begins with the intriguing command "To Ishmael, send…." and then...

Live Science makes predictions about what archaeologists will uncover in the new year. There are a number of archaeological finds and stories we might hear about in 2022. These include discoveries from Egypt's "lost golden city," new finds from Qumran — the site where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in nearby caves — as well as finds that may shed light on what life was like 11,000 years ago, when humans started building large ceremonial sites. In this countdown, Live Science makes five archaeology predictions for 2022. New finds from Egypt's 'lost golden city' In 2021 archaeologists announced the...

The Talmud/Mishnah states that the Masoretic Text (a medieval text used by the KJV, NIV, NASB, etc) was corrupted as the Talmud/Mishnah described conflicting texts, contradictions, and multiple, competing rabbis intentionally altering scriptures and thus they ultimately corrupted it). The Septuagint (translated in the mid 3rd century BC) is far older than the Masoretic Text (MT) and the MT isn't original scripture and not a BC text anyway. Paleo Hebrew, used after Moses' time and used from the 12th to 6th century BC (around 2,000 years older than the MT), gave way to Square Hebrew (around 1,300 years older than...

Artificial intelligence has helped to solve a long-standing mystery concerning the Dead Sea Scrolls. The technology confirms that one of the ancient manuscripts – the Great Isaiah Scroll – was penned by two scribes who wrote with very similar handwriting, rather than being the result of a single person’s work. The Dead Sea Scrolls are a set of ancient Hebrew manuscripts comprising Biblical and Jewish texts, found in caves near the Dead Sea in the mid-20th century. The Great Isaiah Scroll is a copy of the Book of Isaiah that is found in both the Hebrew Bible and the Old...

Israeli experts uncover Dead Sea Scrolls for first time in 60 years: The significance of the find, explained Around 80 new fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in excavations in the Judean Desert, according to Israeli archaeologists. About 132 and 136 A.D., they were most likely hidden during a Jewish revolt against Rome. Israeli archaeologists reported the discovery of dozens of Dead Sea Scroll fragments bearing a biblical text in a desert cave, thought to have been hidden nearly 1,900 years ago during a Jewish revolt against Rome. According to the Israel Antiquities Authority, the fragments of parchment...

Denver Newsroom, Mar 19, 2021 / 03:01 am MT (CNA).- Israeli archaeologists announced this week the discovery of several new sets of Dead Sea Scrolls— ancient fragments of biblical text that have, for the past 70 years, contributed to scholars’ knowledge about the Old Testament. The new scroll fragments, which the Israeli Antiquities Authority announced March 16, include the books of Zechariah and Nahum, both minor prophets. Dr. John Bergsma, professor of theology at Franciscan University of Steubenville who has written and spoken extensively on the Dead Sea Scrolls, told CNA that an interesting feature of the scrolls recently found...

Palestinian Authority Will Use Upcoming UNESCO Meeting to Claim Ownership of Dead Sea Scrolls Site, Jewish Group Reveals A leading Jewish human rights organization disclosed on Wednesday that it had received advance warning of a Palestinian attempt to claim ownership of the historic Jewish site of Qumran, in the West Bank, at a forthcoming meeting of the UN’s educational and cultural agency UNESCO. Shimon Samuels — director for International Relations at the Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) — said in a letter to UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay that he had “learned from UNESCO Arab Group sources of an apparent plan by...

An extremely fragile, ancient Hebrew scroll has been digitally unwrapped for the first time, revealing the earliest copy ever found of an Old Testament Bible scripture. Known as the En-Gedi scroll ...

Dozens of 2,000-year-old fragments from scrolls containing portions of the books of Nahum and Zechariah have been unearthed in Israel, an extremely rare discovery in the Judean Desert. The Israel Antiquities Authority announced the discovery of the uncovered fragments on Tuesday. They are the first of such discoveries in approximately 60 years. The Dead Sea Scrolls are fragments of religious manuscripts that were originally found in the Judaean Desert decades ago. The newly discovered fragments are Greek translations of the two minor prophets. Despite most of the fragments being in Greek, the name of God is written in Hebrew. The...

On a day that saw the Israel Antiquities Authority unveil the first Bible scroll fragments found in decades and numerous other dazzling artifacts from the “Cave of Horror” above the Dead Sea — including a huge 10,500-year-old complete woven basket, the oldest in the world — perhaps the most extraordinary news is that there are another 20 promising caves, holding untold potential treasures, that have yet to be excavated. That means the dozens of fragments shown to the public on Tuesday could mark the beginning of an exciting new era of discovery, 60 years after the last major scroll finds....

They also discovered a partially mummified 6,000-year-old skeleton of a child.For the first time in 60 years, archaeologists have discovered a new fragment of the Dead Sea Scrolls, a cache of ancient Jewish and Hebrew religious manuscripts uncovered in the Qumran Caves on the northern shore of the Dead Sea. The Israel Antiquities Authority, which carried out the excavations, believes the new scroll, written in Greek, is actually a missing part of the “Book of the 12 Minor Prophets” scroll, first discovered in 1961. It contains verses from Zechariah 8:16-17 and Nahum 1:5-6. The minor differences in the wording compared...

“These are the things you are to do: Speak the truth to one another, render true and perfect justice in your gates. And do not contrive evil against one another, and do not love perjury, because all those are things that I hate—declares the Lord.” These verses, from Zechariah 8:16–17, were discovered in a cave where Jewish refugees hid almost 1900 years ago. The verses, written on dozens of parchment fragments were discovered in a complex and challenging national-archaeological operation undertaken by the Israel Antiquities Authority on the cliffs of the Judean Desert, since 2017, in order to prevent antiquities...

TEL AVIV - Israeli archeologists on Tuesday revealed dozens of recently-discovered fragments of biblical texts, known as the Dead Sea Scrolls, which build on a collection of ancient Jewish religious manuscripts that was first discovered 60 years ago. Israel’s Antiquities Authorities said that the pieces of parchment feature lines of Greek text from the books of Zechariah and Nahum which have been radiocarbon dated to the 2nd century A.D. The discovery is the result of a years-long Israeli excavation in the Judean Desert and are believed to belong to a set known as “The Cave of Horror,” named for the...

Much more important than Hershel’s numerous individual campaigns was his uncanny understanding of the American public’s endless fascination with old-fashioned “biblical archaeology.” And that was at the very time when many of us professionals were trying to separate the two disciplines of archaeology and biblical studies. Our purpose, of course, was to create a more serious dialogue, to move beyond the old amateur and sterile monologue. In time, we professionals accomplished our agenda, at least in part. But Hershel also accomplished his agenda. And he did it brilliantly, popularizing our complex excavations and esoteric research for a mass audience that...

I never paid any attention to it before, but when looking in the reference section of an old Bible, I noticed a picture of Moses holding the 10 Commandments and on them was Masoretic Text which was not in existence in Moses' time. Moses smashed the first set that God etched in Exodus 31:8 and chiseled out the second set. The language during Moses' time would not have been Masoretic Text with its diacritic markings, nor its predecessor, Aramaic Hebrew, nor its predecessor, Paleo Hebrew. Paleo Hebrew though would have been in use during the time of the Davidic Kingdom...

Rechavi's group obtained DNA from minuscule bits that either fell off or were removed from 26 Dead Sea Scroll fragments. Those samples contained no writing. After excluding DNA left by people who had handled the scrolls, the scientists identified DNA of animals used to make the ancient parchments. All fragments were made of sheepskin except for two made from cow skin... Four Qumran fragments from the Hebrew Bible's book of Jeremiah likely came from two different versions of that book, the investigators find. Two sheepskin fragments belonged to one book and two cow skin fragments belonged to another. Cows couldn't...

The Museum of the Bible holds 16 fragments of reputed Dead Sea Scrolls in their collection. On Friday, March 13, 2020, a study revealed that all 16 of these are modern forgeries. Already in 2018, a different study had tested five of the 16 fragments and concluded that they were fakes. The new study -- which was conducted by Art Fraud Insights, led by the art fraud investigator Colette Loll, and funded by the Museum of the Bible -- analyzed all 16 fragments. Through a series of physical and chemical tests, Loll and her team determined that the fragments had...

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, and were never passed through the antiquities market. 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. These were studied and published by Reed and his student John Poole, and then stored safely...