Adventuring - The Bear Creek Commentaries

--- The Dead Sea Scrolls ---

Coyote and I visited the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. We chose a weekday afternoon so the museum was not packed. Fragments were located under glass in a circular counter. These pieces of paper and parchment are over 2000 years old so special measures have to be taken to keep them from just falling apart. No camera flashes, for instance.

Most of the volume of the exhibit was context - the history and geography of the region. The jars that the scrolls were found in were also amply represented.

The artifacts were presented in their Biblical context, which surprised me. I keep saying that Denver is a secular city and I keep seeing and hearing things that contradict me. Of course, it is secular in comparison to where I came from - the Bible Belt - but religion is quite alive and well in Denver.

For a time, the Dead Sea Scrolls were thought by academicians to have been completed after the first century because of the startlingly accurate depictions of the life and crucifixion of Christ in the book of Isaiah, which was there in it's entirety (with several copies). But when the finds were dated as coming from the intertestamental period, that sorta threw a monkey wrench into the current theories.

If you want to see some highlights, check this site - Overview and Sneak Peek.

http://www.dmns.org/dead-sea-scrolls/overview

Look quickly because this is a traveling exhibit.

If you have a local museum, it likely hosts traveling exhibits. Check one out. Traveling exhibits are there and gone but they usually have special appeal and draw large crowds, so you might want to attend on a weekday if you can.