Dead Sea Scrolls go digital on Internet

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JERUSALEM, Dec. 18 (UPI) -- The digitizing of the Dead Sea Scrolls means an important historical find of the 20th century is open to anyone with an Internet connection, researchers say.

The Israel Antiquities Authority and Google have completed a project to create an archive of online high-resolution images of the 2,000-year-old scrolls, Britain's Daily Telegraph reported Tuesday.

Google's research and development center in Israel worked with the antiquities authority for two years to upload digitized images of thousands of fragments of the scrolls, a window into the life of Jews and early Christians at the time of Jesus.

"What's exciting about this launch is that users from all over the world can access these ancient scrolls, through wherever they are, and they can experience them through any device, anywhere in the world," Yossi Matias, head of the Google-Israel R&D center, said.

Around 4,000 fragments have been uploaded to the website, with the eventual goal of uploading all tens of thousands of them, the IAA said.

While access to the scrolls, discovered in 1947, was restricted for many years, access has been widened in recent years for scholars and the public alike.