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orion "LEATHER SCROLLS"?
"LEATHER"?
In the scientific description of the Dead Sea Scrolls both in scholarly
articles and DJD the term "leather" has often been used inexactly for
those scrolls which are made from animal hides. Although it is true that
the thongs and reinforcing tabs are generally made from actual leather -
i.e. tanned or similarly processed animal hide (cf. DJD VI), there are
few examples of true leather being used for the scrolls themselves.
The material generaly used at Qumran is dehaired and, at times whitened
by lye, but is all in all "whole skin" of animals. In order to avoid
this needless confusion, in all future "scientific" descriptions, the
term "leather" should be avoided. It should be used, however, in those
few cases where it can be verified that actual "leather" has been used
for producing a scroll. Otherwise the term "skin", "hide" or "primitive
parchment" should be used.
Stephen Pfann