Meetings with the world of science
As part of the “Meetings with the World of Science” project, the Polish Academy of Sciences Scientific Center in Paris organises a series of lectures featuring popular science topics. The aim is to disseminate the findings of Polish researchers in France. The lectures will be held in a hybrid form, accessible to all interested parties regardless of their level of knowledge.
LECTURE 1: The Secrets of the Qumran Caves Scrolls – the archaeology of Khirbet Qumran in Paris. The meeting will take place on Wednesday, April 24th, from 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM.
LECTURE 2: to be announced
LECTURE 3: to be announced
LECTURE 4: to be announced
The first lecture, „The Secrets of the Qumran Caves Scrolls – the archaeology of Khirbet Qumran in Paris”, will be conducted by dr. Dariusz Długosz (Louvre, Department of Oriental Antiquities).
In the 1950s, the oldest Bible manuscripts were discovered in eleven limestone caves near the ancient settlement of Qumran in Israel. They are written mainly in Greek, but also in Aramaic and Hebrew. Most of the languages used in the manuscripts were known at the time of discovery; however, three were incomprehensible and had to be deciphered. Moreover, no more than ten of the scrolls found were in good condition, while the rest were significantly damaged.
Approximately 900 manuscripts were found, but scientists assume that this number was originally larger. Over the centuries, some of the manuscripts were possibly destroyed by unsuitable conditions such as climate changes, or were stolen. Broken jugs were also found in some of the caves near the eleven caves of Qumran, suggesting that scrolls could have also been found there.
Since the discovery of the manuscripts, many theories and myths have arisen about them, including their authorship or the environment in which they were created.
Research on the manuscripts has been going on for about 70 years. During this time, modern technologies such as statistical analysis, digitization, multispectral imaging, machine reading, or artificial intelligence have been used to answer numerous questions, but further questions still arise.
• What are the Qumran manuscripts and what secrets do they hold?
• Who wrote the manuscripts and why?
• Can their origin be attributed exclusively to one community?
• Who were the inhabitants of Qumran?
All your questions will be answered during the lecture “The Secrets of the Qumran Caves Scrolls – the archaeology of Khirbet Qumran in Paris”. The conference will be held in French.
Hybrid meeting, link to join online: https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19:meeting_NDcwM2ExZmMtYzRlNS00YjUyLWE4Y2MtZDk5MjFhY2ZlMmYx@thread.v2/0?context=%7B%22Tid%22:%22c09e1b13-b101-4ccc-9d9b-05118a718591%22,%22Oid%22:%2211f2189c-2056-4a07-ab5f-7289c2cce47b%22%7D