Construction of the scroll

Qumran scrolls were written on parchment made from wet, limed unhaired skins of sheep, goats, and calves. Majority of scrolls were written on parchment and about 50 of them were written on papyrus. Length of the scroll varied and they were prepared in advanced for the particular work that was to be written on them. The longest Qumran biblical scroll containing the Isaiah was about 7.5m (24.6ft) long. Production of these scrolls involved variety of skills, tools and materials. The parchment-making process starts with washing of the fresh skin and soaking in water to cause it to swell, and once the hair is scraped off, if the skin had to be tanned it would be treated with some form of vegetable or organic matter. Another approach was also involved in preparation of the skin that is dressing the hide with alum and dusting it with powdered chalk. They had to soften the skin before writing on the surface and this is done by beating on it.

 The most impressive examples of their crafts are the small skins used to make the Tefillin discovered at Qumran. They had to be folded into tiny bundles for it to be inserted in the Tefillin. The writing on them is the smallest script yet discovered from this period. The Tefillin was made out of Vellum which made out of calfskin, sheepskin obtained from small animal.

Papyrus scrolls were made out of strips of reed gummed together in layers. The strips were laid across at right angles and either beaten or pressed together. With the completion of the process the sheets are polished with pumic and cut to standard size and sewn together to form a scroll. The Scribe would then mark the edges of the columns by scoring the margins and then he would rule the lines. The size and availability of parchment depends on the number of columns and the size of the margins at top, bottom and between the columns. The pens were made out of reeds and the ink was made from a carbon based dye solution. Standard, and style of writing varied considerably both formal and cursive scripts were used but variety of styles of writing had been used which claims that 95% of Qumran scrolls were written by different people who lived at Qumran.

As for research process for this blog I mostly used the book of “The complete world of The Dead Sea Scrolls written by Philip R. Davies, George J. Brooke and Phillip R Callaway which gives detail information of the topic I researched and the making of a scroll is celery illustrated in this book. The websites I used in finding information for the construction of scrolls were Papyri page, Academy of BJE site and Facsimile editions web site.

Bibliography:

Davis, R Philip, Brooke, J George & Callaway, R Phillip 2002, The complete world of dead sea Scrolls, Thames & Hudson Ltd, London.

Facsimile Editions Limited 2011, Parchment, Viewed  4 October 2011< http://www.facsimile-editions.com/en/glossary/#p>

Theodore Bernhardt 2001, Leather parchment and vellum, Viewed  4 October 2011< http://papyri.tripod.com/vellum/vellum.html>

BJE Academy 2011, Tefillin, NSW Board of Jewish Education, Viewed 4 October 2011< http://www.bje.org.au/learning/judaism/symbols/tefillin.html>

Facsimile Editions Limited 2011, How Parchment is made for Facsimile Editions, Viewed  4 October 2011<  http://www.facsimile-editions.com/en/me/#parchmentmaking

Reed pens and the bronze inkwell found at Qumran.

(Left) Reconstructions of finished scrolls, showing two types of tabs and fastenings. 

Part of 4Q448(Prayer for king Jonathan) showing the original tab in place.

Davis, R Philip, Brooke, J George & Callaway, R Phillip 2002, The complete world of dead sea Scrolls, Thames & Hudson ltd, London, pp. 66-67.

Authors of the Dead Sea Scrolls and their background

Model of Qumran Village

There were three major Jewish religious groups from the 2^nd century BCE to the 1^st century CE who resided in the desert on the shores of the Dead Sea. They were the Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes. Scholars believe that Essenes who lived at Khirbet Qumran would have been the possible authors of the manuscript. Early Excavations at Qumran reviled that the Essenes had lived in monasteries and have written the scrolls during the period 100BC to 68AD. Preserving and copying scriptures was important task for the Essenes. They hid the scrolls in the caves around the outbreak of the first Jewish Revolt in 66AD. During the excavations at Qumran archaeologists have discovered two inkwells and tables, on which the scrolls were fist written. Roland de Vaux a Dominican priest one of the original editors of the Dead Sea Scrolls interpreted, these tables as “Scriptorium”.

The name Essenes derives from the Greek word “holiness” and Essenes order is well known for its piety and distinctive beliefs and practices which separated themselves from the rest of society. The population of Essenes were about 4,000 lived in the towns and villages of Judea. They lived supporting themselves by farming and carrying out various other trades. They adhered to a hierarchical organization led by priests, observed rules of initiation for new members, performed daily purification rituals, held all property in common, took meals together, and worked, studied the scriptures, and prayed together. Certain Qumran scrolls particularly the Rule of the community tell us that inhabitants of the desert community lived as Esseness who are very religious and strict observance of ritual laws. Although there are many similarities between descriptions of the Essenes and community described in the Dead Sea Scrolls, some scholars does not agree of Essenes being the authors of the manuscript they believe Sadducees as the authors of the Dead Sea Scrolls based on similarities between the Sadducees and of the evidence gathered recently of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

As for the research on the authors of the Dead Sea Scrolls I used “The complete world of The Dead Sea Scrolls written by Philip R. Davies, George J. Brooke and Phillip R Callaway. I also searched via Google on the topic and found some interesting sites which gave me information of the writers of the manuscript. Encyclopaedia of Nationmaster.com site gave detail account of the writers, and faith-makeitreal.com site also retrieved similar information of the authors of the manuscript.

Bibliography:

Davis, R Philip, Brooke, J George & Callaway, R Phillip 2002, The complete world of dead sea Scrolls, Thames & Hudson ltd, London.

Discovery 2007, Nation Master, viewed 18 September 2011, <http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Dead-Sea-scrolls#Discovery>

Qumran, Essenes & Dead Sea Scrolls 2007, Faith Make it real, viewed 3 October 2011, < http://www.faith-makeitreal.com/BS/Bextras/qumran-essenes-deadseascrolls.pdf>

Spiritrestoration, Model of Qumran Village, viewed 3 October 2011,

<http://www.spiritrestoration.org/Church/Dead_Sea_Scrolls/The_Dead_Sea_Scrolls_Qumran_Library.htm>

Maranatha Tvi2008, Dead Sea Scrolls revealed, 29 March, viewed 4 October 2011, <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks5vv2-l44M>

Discovery of Dead Sea Scrolls

Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of ancient manuscripts totalling about 800 scrolls and fragments of documents written between 200 B.C. and 68 A.D. The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in 1947 in 11 caves in the settlement of Qumran located in North-western Shore of the Dead Sea. The texts are of great religious and historical significance, as they include some of the only known surviving copies of Biblical documents. They are written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, mostly on parchment, and some written on papyrus.

Two of the Bedouin shepherds by the names of Jum’a Muhammad and Mohammed Ahmed el-Hamed (nicknamed edh-Dhib “the wolf”) made the first discovery of the 7 intact scrolls from cave 1. The Bedouin shepherds eventually brought some of the scrolls to a cobbler and antiquities dealer in Bethlehem named Khando, with his mediator George Isaiah took the scrolls to St. Mark’s monastery belonging to the Syrian Church in Jerusalem and four of the scrolls were sold to Mar Athanasius Yeshua Samuel the Syrian Metropolitan of the monastery, who purchased for £24. Yeshua Samuel’s attempts to sell the scrolls failed numerous occasions; in June 1 1954 he placed a ad in The Wall Street Journal, advertising the four Dead Sea Scrolls for sale. The four scrolls were anonymously purchased by state of Israel for $250,000 and with the finding of the rest of the 7 intact scrolls; they were brought into Jerusalem where it is housed in the Shrine of the Book, a museum specifically built to preserve the manuscripts for the future generations.

The Dead Sea Scrolls text can be categorize into 3 major sections biblical, apocryphal and sectarian. The biblical manuscripts contained some two hundred copies of all the books of the Hebrew Bible except for the book of Ester. Apocryphal writings are not part of the Hebrew Bible. The sectarian describes the works, of Qumran community’s religious and organizational practices and does reflect a wide variety of literary genres: biblical commentary, religious-legal writings, liturgical texts, and apocalyptic compositions.

As for the research process I started with the book of the “The complete world of The Dead Sea Scrolls written by Philip R. Davies, George J. Brooke and Phillip R Callaway and the book of “The meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls” by James Vanderkam  and Peter  flint which both were  borrowed from my local library. I also searched via Google and retrieved information on the Discoveries of Dead Sea Scrolls from the encyclopaedia of Nationmaster.com site and the Chronological and Thematic Studies on the History of Information and Media website. The West Semitic Research Project was another helpful site which retrieved information on the discoveries of Dead Sea Scrolls. Images for this post were taken from “The world’s foremost publisher of illuminated manuscripts” website. The Image of the Wall Street Journal advertisement was taken from the book “The complete world of The Dead Sea Scrolls”.

Bibliography:

Davis, R Philip, Brooke, J George & Callaway, R Phillip 2002, The complete world of dead sea Scrolls, Thames & Hudson ltd, London.

Vanderkam, James, & Flint, Peter 2002, The meaning of the dead sea scrolls: their significance for understanding the Bible, Judaism, Jesus, and Christianity, 1st edn, Harper Collins Publishers Inc., NY.

Discovery 2007, Nation Master, viewed 18 September 2011, http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Dead-Sea-scrolls#Discovery

The Discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls 2000, West Semitic Research Project,  viewed 18 September 2011, <http://www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/wsrp/educational_site/dead_sea_scrolls/discovery.shtml>

The Dead Sea Scrolls (300 BCE – 68 CE)2004, Jeremy Norman & Co., Inc.,  viewed 18 September 2011, <http://www.historyofinformation.com/index.php?id=175>

Davis, R Philip, Brooke, J George & Callaway, R Phillip 2002, The complete world of dead sea Scrolls, Thames & Hudson ltd, London, pp.6-7.

  

The Bethlehem antiquities dealer Khalil Iskander Shahin Known as 'Kando'.

  The advertisment placed by Mar Samuel in the Wall Street Journal.  

The two of the Three Bedouin who discovered the Cave 1scrolls: Juma'a Muhammad left and Muhammad ed-Dib on the right.