(Image source: Tech.Blorge)

BY MIHIR BHAGAT

For 50 years, the Dead Sea Scrolls could only be viewed in an Israeli museum. But now--Google has changed that.

The Washington Post explains:

“Following criticism that only a small circle of scholars could access the Dead Sea Scrolls, Israel’s national museum and Google teamed up to the put the most significant archaeological find of the 20th century online. Five of the most important scrolls...have been digitized."

The Curator of the Israel Museum explains the project’s importance:

“The Dead Sea scrolls give us a new perspective about ancient life, society and thought. They promote inter-faith dialogue. They promote understanding between human beings. Now, you’re not just a passive reader of the scrolls. You become active. You have a chance to understand why these ancient manuscripts became the greatest archaeological discovery of the 20th century.”

CNET writes that expert photography allow the user to interact with the intricacies of the scrolls:

“Opening the page for one of the scrolls...greets you with a description of the scroll, its history, and its meaning. Clicking on the photo of the scroll itself zooms in so that you can not only read the words but also feel the texture and age of the parchments themselves. Zooming in far enough even reveals some of the cracks, tears, and holes that have invaded the paper over the past 24 centuries.”

Google tells ABC News this is bigger than just the Dead Sea Scrolls.

GOOGLE ISRAEL: “This is actually a part of a wider Google initiative to bring the world information and cultural heritage online.

Wired.com says Google should do more of this moving forward.  

“There are also other tools out there that let you zoom in and navigate around primary source texts, but the Dead Sea Scrolls tool is one of the nicest that I’ve seen. So Google should keep doing these kinds of projects, taking what they’ve learned at every step and applying it to the growing mass of high-res text captures that’s already out there.”