每日英語跟讀 Ep.K105: Hides that reveal: DNA helps scholars divine Dead Sea Scrolls

Genetic sampling of the Dead Sea Scrolls has tested understandings that the 2,000-year-old artefacts were the work of a fringe Jewish sect, and shed light on the drafting of scripture around the time of Christianity’s birth. The research — which indicated some of the parchments’ provenances by identifying animal hides used — may also help safeguard against forgeries of the prized biblical relics.

科學家日前對「死海古卷」進行基因採樣，檢驗人類對於這份兩千年歷史工藝品的理解──之前，死海古卷被認為是一個猶太教非主流教派的作品。這份研究也提供線索，讓人一窺基督教誕生前後期間經文起草的過程。藉由辨識出抄寫時使用的動物皮革，該研究指出部分死海古卷的起源，或許也能協助防止這個深受重視的聖經文物遭到偽造。

The Dead Sea Scrolls, a collection of hundreds of manuscripts and thousands of fragments of ancient Jewish religious texts, were discovered in 1947 by local Bedouin in the cave-riddled desert crags of Qumran, about 20km east of Jerusalem. Many scholars believed the scrolls originated with the reclusive Essenes, who had broken away from the Jewish mainstream. But some academics argue the Qumran trove had various authors and may have been brought from Jerusalem for safekeeping.

死海古卷由數百份手稿和數千片斷簡組成，是一批古老的猶太宗教文獻。一九四七年，昆蘭沙漠的貝都因人在布滿洞穴的峭壁中發現這些經卷，當地位於耶路撒冷東方約二十公里。許多學者相信這些卷軸來自脫離主流猶太教後，離群索居的艾賽尼教派。不過，有些學者則主張昆蘭沙漠的這些寶藏其實來自多名不同作者，而且可能是為了妥善保管才從耶路撒冷帶來當地。

DNA sequencing conducted by Tel Aviv University and the Israel Antiquities Authority has allowed for finer matching or differentiation among the scrolls. While the sheepskin of some of the scrolls could be produced in the desert, cowskin — found in at least two samples — was more typical of cities like Jerusalem, where Jews, at the time, had their second temple and were under Roman rule.

由台拉維夫大學和以色列文物管理局進行的DNA定序，讓卷軸之間得以進行更精確的配對或區分。有些卷軸寫在羊皮上，是可以在沙漠中生產出來的材料，但是有兩份以上的受測樣品被發現以牛皮製成，比較屬於像是耶路撒冷等城市的特徵。當時，耶路撒冷的猶太人處於「第二聖殿期」，並且受羅馬人統治。

“The very material, the biological material of which the scrolls are made, is as telling and as informative as the content of the text,” Noam Mizrahi, Bible studies professor at Tel Aviv University, told Reuters. The Israeli researchers, assisted by a Swedish DNA lab, determined that two textually different copies of the Book of Jeremiah were brought to Qumran from the outside.

台拉維夫大學的聖經研究教授諾姆‧米茲拉希向路透表示：「這種材質，也就是製作古卷的生物性材料，跟上面所記載文本的內容一樣深具說服力，而且充滿豐富資訊。」藉由一間瑞典DNA實驗室的協助，這些以色列科學家判斷兩份不同版本的《耶利米書》經卷是從外界帶入昆蘭沙漠。

Such findings, the researchers say, indicate that the wording of Jewish texts was subject to variation and interpretation — contrary to later views of holy writ as fixed. The lesson, Mizrahi said, is that “Second Temple Jewish society was much more plural and multifaceted than many of us tend to think.”

研究人員指出，這些發現顯示，猶太教文本的用字遣詞會受到變動和詮釋的影響──此論點和後世認為聖經文字是固定不變的看法相反。米茲拉希表示，這給我們的教訓是：「第二聖殿期的猶太社會，比我們許多學者想像的還要多元而且多面向。」

Tiny slivers of parchment — or just dust — were taken for testing. The process could prove a godsend for spotting counterfeits, such as five supposed Dead Sea Scrolls that were removed from the Museum of the Bible in Washington in 2018. “Since we can distinguish scrolls that originated from Qumran from other scrolls, we think that maybe in the future it could help identify real versus false scroll pieces,” said Oded Rechavi, neurobiology professor at Tel Aviv University.

羊皮紙的極小碎片──或是塵埃──也被送去檢驗。這個過程日後可望成為及時雨，協助科學家發現贗品，就像是華盛頓的聖經博物館在二○一八年撤出展覽的五塊偽造死海古卷殘片。台拉維夫大學的神經生物學教授歐迪‧雷查維表示：「既然我們現在能夠區別源自昆蘭沙漠的古卷軸跟其它卷軸，我們認為這項技術未來也許能幫助學者鑑別卷軸碎片的真偽。」

Source article: https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang/archives/2020/06/07/2003737755

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