Dead Sea Scrolls are among the Holy Land artifacts on display in new exhibit

The âDead Sea Scrolls: Life and Faith in Biblical Timesâ exhibit, which opens at Discovery Times Square tomorrow, is considered to be the largest collection of Holy Land artifacts ever asssembled.

Fragile, wispy pieces of parchment, some as tiny as a thumbnail, others book-sized, jagged and irregular, like miniature torn curtains.

That the Dead Sea Scrolls survived two millennia, inhospitable climates, war, and enough behind-the-scenes drama and derring-do for several Hollywood thrillers is almost as remarkable as the presence of the scrolls themselves.

“Dead Sea Scrolls: Life and Faith in Biblical Times,’’ which opens at Discovery Times Square tomorrow, is being called the largest and most comprehensive collection of Holy Land artifacts ever organized.

The “Dead Sea Scrolls: Life and Faith in Biblical Times” exhibit, which opens at Discovery Times Square tomorrow, is considered to be the largest collection of Holy Land artifacts ever assembled. The 10 scrolls on display, including a fragment of the War Scroll, left, were discovered in caves along the Dead Sea and are identified as the oldest written version of the Hebrew Bible.

In addition to the Dead Sea Scrolls, the exhibit, which runs though April 15, includes hundreds of other artifacts, above and left, that help piece together bits of history.

Artifacts from the exhibit “Dead Sea Scrolls: Life and Faith in Biblical Times,’’ opening at Discovery Times Square tomorrow.

But those who head straight for the 10 scrolls on display while giving short shrift to the displays and hundreds of other artifacts will miss out on some eye-opening historical bits and pieces.

The scrolls were discovered by accident in 1947 by a Bedouin shepherd who, as the story goes, threw a rock into a cave to flush out a missing goat.

“Instead of hearing the squeal of a goat, he hears pottery shattering,” said Nick Ballock, one of seven guides who will work the exhibit.

He returned later with a friend; the two would find jars containing linen-wrapped scrolls. The parchments, and others discovered in caves along the shores of the Dead Sea, would be identified as the Dead Sea Scrolls, the oldest written version of the Hebrew Bible. The scrolls would wind their way through a succession of owners; one placed an ad in the Wall Street Journal in June 1954 offering a “biblical manuscript for sale” that would be “an ideal gift” for an educational institution.

At the time, some heralded the scrolls as the greatest archeological discovery ever. They were not treated kindly; scenes in a seven-minute video show scholars poring over fragments while smoking cigarettes. Many torn fragments were taped together.

The exhibit, which runs through April 15, 2012, was created by the Israeli Antiquities Authority from the collections of the Israel National Treasures. Visitors to the two-level exhibit first enter a room inscribed with a passage, in English, Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic, from Genesis 12:1 — “The Lord said to Abram. ‘Go forth from your native land and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you.’ ’’

In the next room, six screens show sunrise over the Dead Sea and footage from archeological digs, as Ballock and other guides provide running commentary.

“We want to give people an immersive experience — how do we make people feel they are standing on the point of discovery?’’ said Ari Novak of Oracle Film Group and the exhibit’s head media designer.

The sunrise scenes look tranquil, but shooting them was anything but.

At one point, Novak’s crew walked gingerly in the darkness over sinkhole-dotted terrain to reach the beach.

“They are covered only with salt; you can plunge 100 feet down,” he said.

The next gallery traces the march of history, from the Ottoman Period through the Crusader Kingdom, early Islamic Period, the Byzantine and Roman empires, and beyond. Artifacts along the way — a pottery oil lamp, a limestone bread stamp, a gold earring inlaid with pearls and precious stones — illuminate everyday life and customs.

“We wanted to take people back to the past,” explained co-curator Risa Levitt Kohn of San Diego State University. “To have them see more than just objects, but the hands that formed the objects.”

There are giant jars and a 2-ton section of the Western Wall, which visitors can touch, but the most memorable objects here, apart from the scrolls, are the tiniest: a possible board game the size of a smartphone icon; shekels, the unit of weight mentioned most often in the Bible; 2,000-year-old dates and olive pits; and more.

“Tiny little things tell big stories in this exhibit,” Novak said.

The scrolls, from the books of Genesis, Leviticus, Exodus and Kings, among others, are arranged around a circular platform on a lower level. There are 20 scrolls in all, with 10 displayed at any one time. Since the parchments are acutely sensitive to light and temperature, new ones will be rotated in every three months.

In all, 900 scroll fragments were found from 1947 on by archeologists and local Bedouins engaged in a spirited competition, contending with the scorchingly hot, devilishly dry desert conditions.

It is not known who wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls. One theory credits a community calling itself the Yahad. The exhibit’s conclusion: “There is too much variety in the scrolls and they are too numerous to have been written by a single community.”

Other artifacts on display include phylacteries, small leather containers that held miniature scrolls inscribed with various biblical texts; a remarkably intact leather sandal; and several ossuaries, limestone boxes in which bones of family members were kept.

Ten ossuaries were discovered in the Talpiot neighborhood of Jerusalem; six had inscriptions that included the names of Jesus, Mary and Joseph — names that were “extremely common” at the time, according to one display.

In a final gallery, visitors can watch a live feed of the Western Wall while a woman intones the words of Genesis 26:3-5 (“Stay in this land for a while and I will be with you’’).

Up until now, Novak’s father, Avi, downplayed his son’s accomplishments, which included working on computer-generated imagery for a Tony Award-winning production of “Guys and Dolls.”

“For him, it was ‘Tony — who’s Tony?’ ” Novak said, smiling.

“Nothing I ever did impressed him before. The Dead Sea Scrolls — he’s in heaven.”