The Royal Ontario Museum’s Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit is not only an encounter with antiquity, but also an insight into the preservation and restoration of ancient documents.
The Dead Sea Scrolls are a series of approximately 900 assembled documents. The manuscripts were written between 150 BCE and 70 CE, and found in 11 caves in the ancient settlement of Qumran on the Dead Sea. A fortunate mix of humidity, temperature, and darkness kept the scrolls intact for thousands of years.
“In caves, temperature and humidity are always stable,” said Dan Rahimi, VP of Gallery Development at the ROM. Rahimi assisted with the exhibit’s curation and contributed to the excavation of the scrolls.
Rahimi added that dry, dark caves preserved scrolls well, even those that were left on the ground, trampled on and damaged by both animals and insects.
The scrolls were removed between 1947 and 1956, and transferred to a department called the Scrollery in Jerusalem’s Rockefeller Museum.
Conservators and biblical scholars sorted and catalogued thousands of pieces of scrolls. Although some had been kept in jars and remained mostly undamaged, most were found in thumbnail-sized bits. One cave alone contained more than 10,000 fragments.
The team compared each piece by texture, colour, and handwriting, assembling the pieces like a massive jigsaw puzzle.
“You have to realize that no computers or analytical tools were used at the time,” said Rahimi.
When a match was found, the pieces would be scotch-taped together and sandwiched between two glass panels.
This process proved to be devastating to the scrolls. Although some were written on papyrus, most were parchment, an organic material highly sensitive to changes in temperature and light. The natural light from the Scrollery’s large windows, combined with the pressure of the glass plates and chemicals from the transparent tape, proved to be detrimental.
One of the most surprising things at the ROM exhibit is photographs of the scientists of the time piecing together ancient scrolls while blithely holding lit cigarettes between their fingers.
As technology improved, so began an effort to restore the scrolls.
First, the scrolls were recorded and photographed. Scientists then removed the adhesive residue from the tape using organic solvents. The pieces were cleaned of any oils and stains, and the back of the scrolls were reinforced if needed.
Conservationists then arranged the scrolls on acid-free cardboard and attached the pieces with hinges of Japanese tissue paper. These sheets were then put in protective boxes in a climate-controlled store room and checked periodically.
When being prepared for exhibition, each scroll was cross-stitched through a frame in order to hold it together.
Only about one-third of the scrolls found are biblical; some are translations but most are commentary on scripture questioning the meaning of life and the end of the world.
“The scrolls give us a look into the worldview of the time. Many wrote about a looming apocalyptic war and believed that a messiah would come,” said Rahimi. “It shows us what people were thinking around the time Jesus of Nazareth came around.”
Rahimi added that the scrolls are valuable because prior to their discovery, the oldest known manuscripts dated from 1,000 CE.
At the ROM, about ten framed scrolls are placed in individual table-height window units with just enough light to be seen. As Rabbi Baruch Frydman-Kohl of the Beth Tzedec Congregation of Toronto says in one of the exhibit’s videos, you “put your eyes, and your nose, close to antiquity.”
The room is kept dark to protect the scrolls while a recording plays traditional Jewish prayers sung acapella. Translations are provided, although the scrolls are enchanting on their own.
One woman at the exhibit stared at a scroll segment and remarked “I can’t believe that someone penned that so long ago.” Those nearby agreed.
The Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit runs until January 3, 2010. Admission for U of T students is $6. All full-time post-secondary students who present their student card and photo identification are admitted to the museum without charge every Tuesday, and need pay only the separate exhibition fee.
