Fresh evidence from DNA analysis is helping to piece together the Dead Sea Scrolls 鈥� 25,000 fragments of parchment discovered in the Qumran caves and surrounding areas in the West Bank over the past 70 years, which contain the oldest known copies of biblical texts.
Oded Rechavi and Noam Mizrahi at Tel Aviv University in Israel and their colleagues sequenced traces of ancient DNA from the scrolls, which were made from animal skin. They used this genetic information to group together fragments that originated from the same skins, so were probably made at the same time.
Until now, many of the scroll fragments have been classified according to the style of writing or other features of the text, says Mizrahi. The DNA analysis confirmed some of these previous classifications, as many of the scroll fragments that had previously been grouped together were also found to be genetically closely related, he says.
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But the researchers鈥� analysis also revealed some scrolls that may have been incorrectly classified. While most of the scroll fragments were made from sheep skin, the sequencing revealed that some of the fragments were made from cow skin, suggesting they originated outside of the Judean desert where cow husbandry wouldn鈥檛 have been possible due to the dry climate.
The researchers looked at scroll fragments dating back approximately 2000 years. Rechavi says it was only possible to analyse such old fragments because of recent advances in DNA sequencing technology, which made it possible to distinguish tiny amounts of animal skin DNA from contaminating DNA, such as DNA from humans handling the scrolls or from bacteria in the environment. 鈥淚t鈥檚 really a revolution,鈥� he says.
Knowing the origins of different fragments is important not only for piecing together these ancient texts, but for understanding the cultural contexts in which they were created, says Mizrahi.
By piecing together some of the fragments using DNA-based classification, the researchers were able to demonstrate that different versions of the biblical text were circulating before the destruction of the Jewish holy Second Temple by the Romans in 70 AD, after which all versions of the text were more or less identical.
Cell
