CNN’s Kevin Flower reports from Jerusalem.
In an ambitious application of 21st century technology to a first century wonder, the Israel Antiquities Authority and internet search giant Google announced a plan Tuesday to digitize the Dead Sea Scrolls and make the entire collection available to the public online.
The authority’s general director, Shuka Dorfman, called the project a milestone that will enhance the field of biblical studies and people’s understanding of Judaism and early Christianity.
Wouldn’t it be nice if the Archdiocese of Turin or the Vatican released tot he public the huge 12.8 billion-pixel image of the Shroud of Turin. The image was made at the Vatican’s request:
"We have stitched together 1,600 shots, each the size of a credit card, to create a huge photo which is almost 1,300 times stronger than a picture taken with a 10 million pixel digital camera," Mauro Gavinelli, technical supervisor at HAL9000, a company specializing in art photography, told Discovery News.
In the case of the Dead Sea Scrolls, all scholarship is welcome. In the case of the Shroud, many scholars are convinced that the Archdiocese of Turin wants to control research. It’s is more of a control issue than anything else. I’m convinced of that.