THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS EXHIBITION IN CHARLOTTE is getting lots of good (and well done) press, especially from the Charlotte Observer. Here's another article on how much of an impression the exhibit made on the reporter:

You'll be moved by its magnificence

RICHARD MASCHAL
rmaschal@charlotteobserver.com

What got me was the inkwell.

I was in "The Dead Sea Scrolls" exhibit at Discovery Place but not yet at the Scroll Gallery, drinking in the artifacts, photographs and text panels interpreting these ancient biblical fragments, how they were discovered and what they mean.

And here was this pottery piece from Jerusalem, an inkwell. Like the scrolls, it is about 2,000 years old and similar to inkwells from Qumran, the Dead Sea community where the scrolls were found about 60 years ago.

A spark jumped between me and this small artifact. I could see evidence of the human hand -- the one that made its nicely curved handle and the one that used it to ink a reed pen and perhaps copy Holy Scripture.

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