The Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library project was dedicated to digitizing and analyzing thousands of tiny fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls .
For this, display technology was used that records textual details that are impossible to see with the naked eye. After completing the scan, a preliminary interpretation has been made which is producing more than interesting information.
Noah’s Ark “was shaped like a pyramid”
The findings were announced at an international symposium, and among them is a reference to Noah’s Ark describing it as a pyramid-shaped vessel , which will no doubt generate controversy among Bible scholars.
More than 50 years ago, a stone thrown by a Bedouin shepherd into a cave led to one of the most important archaeological discoveries of the 20th century.
The stone made a noise like something breaking, it had broken an earthen jar and when the Bedouin entered to investigate, he found the first of what is known as the Dead Sea Scrolls, about 800 manuscripts of which a quarter are copies of parts of the text Hebrew Bible.
Now, at present, thousands of fragments of these manuscripts have been scanned in a laboratory set up by the Israel Antiquities Authority as part of the Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library project .
Each of them was photographed 28 times at high resolution using different wavelengths of light, allowing researchers to read letters and words that were previously unreadable.
Hence many of these fragments have offered new interpretations of known biblical stories. Among these is the understanding we have had regarding Noah’s Ark .
Thanks to the high resolution images it was possible to decipher a word that until now was illegible after the text “ height of the ark ”, which would have meant “ are reunited ”.
This, in the interpretation, refers to the fact that the lateral parts of the ark were joined at the top forming a pyramid.
Something that has already been found in ancient sources such as the ” Septuagint “, a 3rd century BC Greek translation of the Bible that uses a verb with a similar meaning to describe the pyramid – shaped ark .
Furthermore, other controversial revelations presented include an allusion to the fact that “divine forgiveness” could be obtained through a payment in money, which would justify medieval indulgences.
The scanning work will continue and the Dead Sea Scrolls are expected to reveal many more secrets , especially highly relevant historical information about what happened 2,000 years ago in that region.