Unlocking the Mystery: How the Dead Sea Scrolls Survived—and What Might End Them
Now, a recent study has uncovered what scientists believe is the key to its preservation — and its possible destruction.
As Live Science wrote, researchers recently examined the Temple Scroll using a multitude of X-ray tools and Raman spectroscopy (a technique used to figure out the chemical composition of a substance using laser light patterns). The team discovered that the Temple Scroll’s parchment was created using techniques different from many of the other scrolls.
Upon inspection, the Temple Scroll revealed traces of a salty mineral solution that was found only in a few other of the previously studied scrolls. The coating contains a mixture of salts made from sulfur, sodium, calcium, and other elements. Given that salt has strong properties for preservation, it is likely that this special salty coating was what saved the Temple Scroll from the natural elements inside the desert cave where it was found.
Getty ImagesMany of the uncovered Dead Sea Scrolls were found in fragments, which include biblical verses and astro charts.
On the flip side, however, the salty coating could also contribute to the ancient script’s deterioration as the salts detected on the scroll are known to suck moisture out of the air. This means that, if not stored properly, the salt minerals on the scroll could “accelerate [the scroll’s] degradation” instead.
But one thing still has scientists baffled: Where did this salty mixture come from?
Stranger still is the fact that none of the components that make up the salt coating on the scroll can be naturally found in the cave floors or in the Dead Sea itself. According to study co-author Ira Rabin of Germany’s Hamburg University, the mineral coating is consistent with the Western tradition of parchment preparation in which animal-skin documents are untanned or lightly tanned.
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