Dead Sea Scrolls Made Locally

Picture Source: Italian National Institute of Nuclear Physics

http://news.discovery.com/archaeology/dead-sea-scrolls-protons.html

Proton beams have shed new light on the origin of the longest of the Dead Sea scrolls, suggesting its parchment was manufactured locally.

According to a study the 28-foot-long Temple Scroll was made in Qumran, in the same area on the Dead Sea coast where the faded parchments were found hidden in caves half a century ago.

 "Our study focused on the parchment, we still don't know where the scroll was written. We are now planning to analyze the ink," Pappalardo said.

"The Dead Sea Scrolls present an extremely complicated system that cannot be characterized by single technique. Each technique delivers a small part of the solution, only a combination of the results might produce a relevant result," Rabin told Discovery News.

Full article: http://news.discovery.com/archaeology/dead-sea-scrolls-protons.html