I LIFE IN ISRAEL CUSTOM FLORAL DESIGNS By Jackie Ms. THREADS CONTEMPORARY WOMEN'S FASHIONS Exotic and very unusual designs. Specializing in silk floral arrangements for your every need. Fantastic savings on silk trees. 441,14 age o rS 200 , A 4414 FREE IN-HOME CONSULTATION Contact Jackie Schwartz 661.3660 up to 500/ Farmington Hills, Ml 855-4464 OFF 0 (Zit) Izeri aftl gr on select groups of RECORDING STUDIOS • SUITS • SPORTCOATS • TOPCOATS • SLACKS • OUTERWEAR • SHIRTS • TIES INVITES YOU TO SING AT YOUR NEXT PARTY (All Items From Our Regular Stock) CALL FOR DETAILS Wed. till 5:30 • Thurs. till 8:30 • Fri.-Sat. 10 till 5:30 MnekenZileS Applegate Square • Northwestern between 12.13 Mile .1( )S 11111 S WOMEN'S CONTEMPORARY SHOES FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1988 Space Age Techniques Reveal Dead Sea Scroll HUGH ORGEL OPEN THIS SUN. ONLY 12-5 40 31205 Orchard Lk Rd 851-9099 • Visit Our Studios at Tally Hall • Gift certificates (all recordings in full compliance with Federal copyright laws) T el Aviv — Photo- graphic techniques de- veloped in part by the NASA space program in the United States are now being used for the first time at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem in order to decipher one of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which has never before been fully decoded. The scroll in question, one of 800 that comprise the Dead Sea Scrolls, is the Genesis- Apocryphon Scroll. It measures approximately seven feet long and is in- scribed in Aramaic, unlike the overwhelming majority of Dead Sea Scrolls, which are written in Hebrew. The scroll was one of seven originally found inside cave No. 1 at Qumran by a Bedouin shepherd in 1947. Of these seven scrolls, the Genesis-Apocryphon Scroll is the worst preserved. The bot- tom of the scroll apparently had been resting on the floor of the cave, which most like- ly exposed the lower one-third of the scroll to dampness. At the same time, the top third of the scroll was dried out by the accumulated effect of 2,000 years of desert climate. "Part of the Genesis- Apocryphon Scroll was lost forever," according to James Charlesworth, Princeton Theological Seminary pro- fessor of New Testament languages, who is heading the American research team. The scroll "either melted away on top, or crumbled on the bottom. Due to the exten- sive damage, Dead Sea Scroll scholars in the 1950s despaired of ever being able to translate this particular scroll," he says. The system itself, called "image enhancement," was essentially pioneered by NASA engineer Don Lynn, head of the space agency's Uranus Fly-by Project. A very rudimentary description of the technique: After extensive photography involving special film, finish- ed data is fed into computers, which basically "connect the dots." In other words, the com- puters are capable of fleshing- out letters, words and com- plete lines which are so minute and obscure that the human eye is incapable of deciphering them. Moreover, the computer is able to recover those images that scribes 2,000 years ago erased and wrote over. In short, the same "space-age technology" that is being used to photograph inorganic and living matter on other planets is now being used to decipher the original language of priceless documents from over 2,000 years ago. While nearly all of the 800 Dead Sea Scrolls are at the Israel and Rockefeller museums, only eight are ac- tually on display at the Israel Museum's Shrine of the Book. Most of the others are kept in nearby vaults, where climate conditions are regulated in such a way as to minimize damage to the fragile scroll fragments. The relative humidity in the exhibition area and vaults is kept at about 55 per- "Parts of the scroll are very wet, and the leather is actually turning into liquid. cent, and the temperature is maintained at approximately 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Final- ly, there is filtered light in the exhibition area and complete darkness in vaults, which eliminates all ultra-violet rays. One of the team, Bruce Zuckerman, stresses that the group's work, "is essentially an exploratory project. We are utilizing ultra-modern photograph equipment which did not exist 40 years ago. The first use of infrared, for exam- ple, in the 1960s, made it possible to interpret some of the Dead Sea Scrolls which had earlier eluded decipher- ment. Our team's work is uni- que in that it combines both technical skills and academic training." Charlesworth notes that the difficulties involved in successfully interpreting the Genesis-Apocryphon Scroll are substantial, though far from insurmountable. "Parts of the scroll are very wet, and the leather is actually turn- ing into liquid. Moreover, this is the one scroll that is conti- nuing to deteriorate, this despite the fact it's being kept in a special vault." The Princeton professor adds that "with special equip- ment, film and new techni- ques, it has proved possible after nine days to photograph and read letters, words and even lines of text on all 22 ex-