JERUSALEM REUTERS - 
 Scientists in Israel are taking digital photographs of thousands of
fragments of the Dead Sea scrolls with the aim of making the 2,000-year-old
documents available to the public and researchers on the Internet.
    Israel Antiquities Authority, the custodian of the scrolls that shed
light on the life of Jews and early Christians at the time of Jesus, said on
Wednesday (August 27) it would take more than two years to complete the
project coinciding with the 60th anniversary of the discovery of the ancient
writings.
    For many years after bedouin shepherds first came upon the scrolls in
caves near the Dead Sea in 1947, only a small number of scholars were allowed
to view the fragments.
    But access has since been widened and they were published in their
entirety seven years ago.
    Using cameras almost 20 times more powerful than those in mobile
phones, and lights that emit no damaging heat or ultraviolet beams, scientists
in Israel have been able to decipher sections and letters in the scrolls
invisible to the naked eye.
    The scrolls, most of them on parchment, are the oldest copies of the
Hebrew Bible and include secular text dating from the third century BC to the
first century AD.
    A team of specialists has taken 4,000 pictures of some 9,000 fragments
that make up the scrolls -- 900 in total. A small number of large pieces of
the scrolls are on permanent display at the Israel Museum.
    "We are able to see the scrolls in such detail that no one has
before," said Simon Tanner, a digital expert from Kings College London,
who is in charge of data collection.
    Scientists hope the advanced imaging technology will also help them
better preserve the scrolls by enabling them to detect any deterioration
caused by humidity and heat.