A traveling exhibit of artifacts from Qumran, now on view in Los Angeles, is more extensive than any that preceded it, and includes information about new technology being used to understand the scrolls. Naomi Pfefferman writes:
Scientists at Hebrew University . . . are investigating the chemical composition of the scrolls’ parchment and ink by artificially aging modern materials known to have been used during the Second Temple period, and through experimentation are deciding how best to sample the fragile ancient documents themselves. Others are engaging in DNA analysis of the parchment upon which the scrolls were written. . . . “If you know that two fragments come from the same animal, you may have an easier time piecing them back together,” said [co-curator Risa] Levitt Kohn. . . .
The most ancient artifacts on display date from more than 3,000 years ago, including collared-rim storage jars, which possibly were used to store grain, circa 1100 BCE, as well as real stones from a typical four-room house that [have been] used to recreate a dwelling from Israel’s hill country.
Objects dating from the 8th century BCE reveal the beginnings of Hebrew as a written language, such as an alphabet table, written on a shard of pottery (the era’s scrap paper), which depicts what is likely a school boy’s primer.
Read more on Jewish Journal: http://www.jewishjournal.com/los_angeles/article/the_art_science_and_history_of_the_dead_sea_scrolls