Memeburn, a company that focuses on web and innovation technologies, is reporting that the  Israel Museum has launched the Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Project.  The project is an effort to put the Dead Sea Scrolls online.

Below is an excerpt from the article announcing the Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Project:

The Israel Museum launches its Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Project today, allowing users to examine and explore these ancient biblical manuscripts at a level of detail never before possible. Developed in partnership with Google, the new website gives users access to searchable, fast-loading, high-resolution images of the scrolls, as well as short explanatory videos and background information on the texts and their history.

The five Dead Sea Scrolls that have been digitised thus far include the Great Isaiah Scroll, the Community Rule Scroll, the Commentary on Habakkuk Scroll, the Temple Scroll, and the War Scroll, with search queries on Google.com sending users directly to the online scrolls. All five scrolls can be magnified so that users may examine the texts in exacting detail. Details invisible to the naked eye are made visible through ultra-high resolution digital photography by photographer Ardon Bar-Hama – at up to 1 200 megapixels, these images are almost two hundred times higher in resolution than those produced by a standard camera. Each picture utilised UV-protected flash tubes with an exposure of 1/4000th of a second to minimise damage to the fragile manuscripts. In addition, the Great Isaiah Scroll may be searched by column, chapter, and verse, and is accompanied by an English translation tool and the opportunity for users to submit translations of verses in their own languages.

Read the article in its entirety by visiting Memeburn’s web page.

Watch this video about the Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Project.