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plpir ritten on parchment and papyrus more than 2,000 years
ago, the Dead Sea Scrolls contain what are believed to be
the oldest surviving copies of the books of the Hebrew
Bible. But this spring, tourists don't have to travel all the
way to Israel to see some examples of these ancient texts. For the first time
in 50 years, the Dead Sea Scrolls are on display in a special exhibition at
the Field Museum in Chicago. The show continues through June 11.
The last time any of the Dead Sea Scrolls were seen in Chicago
was in 1949, when the Oriental Institute exhibited three scroll frag-
ments. Portions of 15 different scrolls are on display in the current
In a special conservation
lab set up within the
exhibition, including five that have never traveled outside of Israel.
field museum's "Dead
One of those five is a segment from the book of Deuteronomy, which
Sea Scrolls" exhibition,
visitors can watch
includes the Ten Commandments; the other four contain language
conservators from
the Israel Antiquities
and concepts similar to those in the Gospels of the New Testament —
Authority work
writ t en more than 100 years later.
on preserving
actual fragments of
The largest scroll in the exhibition is a liturgical collection of psalms
the Dead Sea Scrolls.
and hymns comprising parts of 41 biblical psalms; another contains
parts of the final chapters of Leviticus.
The exhibition also features 80 artifacts from Qumran, the archeologi-
cal site in Israel near which the scrolls were discovered; rare books and manuscripts from the Field Museum and Chicago's
Newberry Library; and a modern Torah scroll from the Spertus Museum. A 10-minute video, a reading area and several
interactive computer stations provide multimedia elements.
In a special conservation lab set up within the exhibition, visitors can watch conservators from the Israel Antiquities
Authority work on preserving actual fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls. They will demonstrate some of the same techniques
being used at the Scrolls Conservation Laboratory, established at the Jerusalem premises of the Israel Antiquities Authority.
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