Dead Sea Scrolls go from parchment to the Internet - CNN.com

Dead Sea Scrolls go from parchment to the Internet - CNN.com:

"JERUSALEM (CNN) -- More than 2,000 years after they were written, the Dead Sea Scrolls are going digital as part of an effort to better preserve the ancient texts and let more people see them than ever before.

The high-tech initiative, announced Wednesday, will also reveal text that was previously not visible to the naked eye.

Over the next two years, the Israel Antiquities Authority will digitally photograph and scan every bit of crumbling parchment and papyrus that makes up the scrolls, which include the oldest written record of the Bible's Old Testament.

The images eventually will be posted on the Internet for anyone to see. ..."

This may not be of use to people who can't read the ancient languages, except in that the originals will be available more widely than before. This should be good for historians, Biblical scholars, and theologians.