Esther and Harold E. Edgerton Career Development Assistant Professor Admir Masic, Graduate student Janille Maragh, and colleagues published today a research paper titled, The Temple Scroll: reconstructing an ancient manufacturing practice,” in Science Advances. The Temple Scroll, one of the longest (almost 25 feet long), whitest, and best-preserved of all the texts from the Dead Sea scrolls collection, is significant due to the layered structure of its parchment, which includes a collagenous base material and an atypical inorganic overlayer.The researchers utilized advanced material characterization tools in order to analyze the chemistry of the materials. They found that evaporitic sulfate salts were used, indicative of a unique ancient production technology. Their findings could provide insight into how to preserve invaluable historical documents. Read more on MIT News.