SIDNIE WHITE CRAWFORD is lecturing on the Dead Sea Scrolls:

TALK TOPIC: WOMEN IN DEAD SEA SCROLLS

University of Nebraska professor Sidnie White Crawford will talk about "Women in the Dead Sea Scrolls and at Qumran" at 4 and 7 p.m. Thursday as part of the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences' eight-part lecture series accompanying The Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition. The lecture will be held in the museum's WRAL Digital Theater.

According to Crawford, some of the Dead Sea Scrolls, in particular the Damascus Document, contain evidence of women participating in the Essene movement in late Second Temple Judaism. Crawford, professor of Hebrew Bible and head of the department of classics and religious studies, is a member of the international publication team for the Dead Sea Scrolls, responsible for editing 14 manuscripts from the Qumran collection.

Individual tickets for the lectures are $25 for the general public and $20 for Friends of the Museum. Last tickets to the exhibition are sold at 5 p.m. on lecture nights. For more information, visit www.naturalsciences.org/scrolls/. The museum exhibition runs through Dec. 28.