Discovered in 1947, but written up to 24 Centuries ago between the third and first Century BCE, the Dead Sea Scrolls include the oldest Biblical manuscripts known to exist along with the insights into life in ancient Jerusalem. Now The Israel Museum in Jerusalem has worked with Google to bring these historic documents online.
The images of the Scrolls are taken in resolutions of up to 1,200 megapixels, allowing users to zoom deep into the text, to the point where it’s possible to examine the animal skin one of them is written on. Written in Hebrew, an English translation of the Great Isaiah Scroll is available when you hover over individual verses, while text from the scrolls shows up in Google search results.
The museum’s project was supported by Google, with its App Engine and Storage products powering the site. It follows previous Google work to bring the likes of a Holocaust photo collection and a mashup of Google Earth with Spain’s Prado Museum collection.
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