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"Bringing the Dead Seas Scrolls and Other Ancient Texts Back to Life"
Prof. Zuckerman
will discuss and demonstrate how advances in computer imaging, data
basing and various techniques of image manipulation and enhancement now
offer unprecedented opportunities to read, recover and reconstruct
ancient texts in a manner that was previously impossible. He will
especially focus on the Dead Sea Scrolls, showing how advanced
technological techniques allow scholars to reconstruct and decipher the
Scrolls in manners analogous to working jigsaw and crossword puzzles. He
will also demonstrate some of the “cutting-edge” technologies that are
just beginning to be applied to the analysis of image data of ancient
inscriptions and will further consider what lies ahead as more and more
powerful technological tools become available.
Dr. Zuckerman is
Professor of Religion at the University of
Southern California. He teaches courses in the Hebrew Bible, the
Bible in Western Literature, the Ancient Near East, and Archaeology. He
received his Ph.D. in ancient Near Eastern Languages from Yale
University. Besides his teaching responsibilities, he directs the USC
Archaeological Research Collection and both the West Semitic Research
and InscriptiFact Projects. He is also the Myron and Marian Casden
Director of the Casden Institute for the Study of the Jewish Role in
American Life. He specializes in photographing ancient texts including
numerous projects involving the Dead Sea Scrolls.
His books
include Job the Silent: A Study in Biblical Counterpoint (1991),
and The Leningrad Codex: A Facsimile Edition (1998). He is also
co-author with Zev Garber of Double Takes: Thinking and Rethinking
Issues of Modern Judaism in Ancient Contexts (2004). He is
currently leading an effort to disseminate electronic images of ancient
texts through the
West Semitic Research and InscriptiFact Projects . In 2006 he was
awarded the Albert S. Raubenheimer Award in the Humanities for
“outstanding performance in the three areas of teaching, scholarship and
service within the University.” This is the highest academic honor
awarded by the USC College of Letters, Arts
& Sciences. |
