Bible History Daily
June 15, 2020

Dead Sea Scrolls Genetically Fingerprinted

Animal skin DNA reveals some scrolls came from beyond the Qumran caves
Temple Scroll
A highly technical study released on June 11, 2020 in the Journal Cell examines the Dead Sea Scrolls by identifying the ancient DNA of the animals–mostly sheep, but also cow, goat, and other bovids–whose skin formed the underlying parchment. The DNA analysis allowed a definitive determination that some fragments were not part of the same scroll as others, and also to establish that some scrolls at Qumran had come from outside the area.

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