比死海卷轴本身更有意义的，是它的制作技术
对最引人入胜的死海古卷之一的最新研究表明，这幅古卷的产地和制作方式非常不同寻常。
Estimated to be close to 2,000 years old, the remarkably well-preserved Dead Sea Scrolls contain ancient texts of great historical importance. Since the initial discovery in 1947 by Bedouin shepherds, scholars have reconstructed over 900 of these ancient Hebrew texts. While the majority are in tatters, a handful remain intact, even to this day.
据估计，这些保存完好的死海卷轴已有近2000年的历史，其中包含了具有重大历史意义的古代文献。自1947年贝都因牧羊人首次发现以来，学者们已经重建了900多个古希伯来文文本。直到今天，虽然大多数人已经破败不堪，但仍有一小部分人完好无损。
The Temple Scroll is one of the largest and best-preserved of the bunch. It's also amongst the most special.
寺院的卷轴是其中最大、保存最好的一批。它也是最特别的。
Found in a cave just north of the Dead Sea, in 1956 the text was allegedly sold by a group of Bedouins to an antiquities dealer, who then wrapped it in cellophane and put it in a shoebox under a floorboard for safe-keeping. Eleven years later, when scholars at last got their hands on it, the precious manuscript was severely damaged by moisture.
1956年，在死海北部的一个山洞里发现了这段文字，据称这段文字被一群贝多因人卖给了一个古董商，然后他用玻璃纸包起来，放在地板下的鞋盒里，以备保管。11年后，当学者们终于动手时，珍贵的手稿被湿气严重损坏。
Today, the Temple Scroll is the thinnest of all the Dead Sea Scrolls discovered. At just one-tenth of a millimetre (roughly 250th of an inch), the writing material is razor thin, and yet this remarkable manuscript still unrolls for more than 8 metres, providing the clearest and whitest writing surface in the collection.
今天，寺庙卷轴是所有发现的死海卷轴中最薄的。只有十分之一毫米(约250英寸)的书写材料是非常薄的，然而这一非凡的手稿仍然展开超过8米，提供了收藏中最清晰和最洁白的书写表面。
While ancient techniques for parchment-making differed in the East and the West, most were made from animal skin that had been cleaned and scoured of all hair and fat. This skin was then stretched and dried, and sometimes rubbed with salt, too. Eastern parchments were various shades of brown, while Western parchments were usually un-tanned.
虽然古代的羊皮纸制作技术在东方和西方有所不同，但大多数羊皮纸是用动物的皮肤制成的，动物的皮肤已经被清洗过，并被洗去了所有的毛发和脂肪。然后，皮肤被拉伸和干燥，有时还会被盐摩擦。东部的羊皮纸是各种颜色的棕色，而西部的羊皮纸通常没有晒黑。
The Temple Scroll doesn't fall into either of these categories. It is different from other scrolls in that its text appears on the 'flesh' side and not the 'hair' side. What's more, the ink on this particular parchment appears to sit on an inorganic layer, just above the surface.
寺庙卷轴不属于这两类。它不同于其他的卷轴，因为它的文本出现在“肉”的一面，而不是“毛”的一面。更重要的是，这张羊皮纸上的墨水似乎就在表面的无机层上。
Researchers wanted to figure out why, so taking a tiny fragment of the scroll - about 2.5 cm wide (1 inch) - they used a variety of non-invasive tools to map the parchment's chemical composition in high resolution.
研究人员想弄清楚原因，于是拿了一小块卷轴——大约2.5厘米宽(1英寸)——用各种非侵入性工具，以高分辨率绘制羊皮纸的化学成分图。
"These methods allow us to maintain the materials of interest under more environmentally friendly conditions," explains James Weave, a scanning electron microscopist from Harvard University, "while we collect hundreds of thousands of different elemental and chemical spectra across the surface of the sample, mapping out its compositional variability in extreme detail."
“这些方法允许我们保持兴趣的材料更环保的条件下,“詹姆斯编织解释说,扫描电子显微镜工作者从哈佛大学,“虽然我们收集成千上万的不同元素在样品的表面和化学光谱,映射出它的成分变化极端细节。”
What they found was completely unexpected: a previously unknown technique for making parchment in ancient times.
他们的发现完全出乎意料:一种以前不为人知的古代羊皮纸制作技术。
Spread in varying concentrations across the surface, the team identified an odd mix of sulphur, sodium, and calcium. These elements suggest a special coating - laced with various salts - was somehow applied to the parchment before any words were written.
研究小组将不同浓度的硫、钠和钙分散在火星表面，发现了一种奇怪的混合物。这些元素表明羊皮纸上有一层特殊的涂层，上面撒有各种各样的盐，在书写之前就已经涂上了。
"[T]his study has far-reaching implications beyond the Dead Sea Scrolls," says chemist Ira Rabin from Hamburg University in Germany.
德国汉堡大学的化学家艾拉·拉宾说:“他的研究意义深远，超越了死海古卷。”
