Editing Dead Sea Scrolls (section)

===Ink and parchment===
The scrolls were analysed using a [[cyclotron]] at the [[University of California, Davis]], where it was found that all black ink was [[carbon black]].<ref name="Nir-El and Broshi black">{{Cite journal|last1=Nir-El|first1=Yoram|last2=Broshi|first2=Magen|date=2009|jstor=4201558|title=The Black Ink of the Qumran Scrolls|journal=Dead Sea Discoveries|volume=3|issue=2|pages=157–167|doi=10.1163/156851796X00183}}</ref> The red ink on the scrolls was found to be made with [[cinnabar]] (HgS, mercury sulfide).<ref name="Nir-El and Broshi red">{{Cite journal|last1=Nir-El|first1=Yoram|last2=Broshi|first2=Magen|date=2007|title=The Red Ink of the Dead Sea Scrolls|journal=Archaeometry|volume=38|issue=1|pages=97–102|doi=10.1111/j.1475-4754.1996.tb00763.x}}</ref> There are only four uses of this red ink in the entire collection of Dead Sea Scroll fragments.<ref name="Nir-El and Broshi red"/> The black inks found on the scrolls are mostly made of carbon soot from [[Oil lamp|olive oil lamps]].<ref name="itsgila.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.itsgila.com/headlinerscrolls.htm|title=Shepherds, Scholars and the Dead Sea Scrolls|publisher=itsgila.com|access-date=1 June 2012|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130426194314/http://www.itsgila.com/headlinerscrolls.htm|archive-date=26 April 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> Honey, oil, vinegar, and water were often added to the mixture to thin the ink to a proper consistency for writing.{{r|itsgila.com}} [[Iron gall ink|Galls]] were sometimes added to the ink to make it more resilient.{{r|itsgila.com}} In order to apply the ink to the scrolls, its writers used [[reed pen]]s.<ref name="Magness, Jodi P.33">Magness, Jodi. ''The Archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls''. p. 33. 2002.{{ISBN?}}</ref>

The Dead Sea Scrolls were written on [[parchment]] made of processed [[animal hides|animal hide]] known as [[vellum]] (approximately 85.5–90.5% of the scrolls), [[papyrus]] (estimated at 8–13% of the scrolls), and sheets of [[bronze]] composed of about 99% [[copper]] and 1% [[tin]] (approximately 1.5% of the scrolls).{{r|Magness, Jodi P.33}}<ref>McFarlane, Callie. ''A Clear Destiny''. p. 126. 2011.{{ISBN?}}</ref> For those scrolls written on animal hides, scholars with the [[Israel Antiquities Authority|Israeli Antiquities Authority]] (IAA), by use of DNA testing for assembly purposes, believe that there may be a hierarchy in the religious importance of the texts based on which type of animal was used to create the hide. Scrolls written on [[goat]] and [[calf (animal)|calf]] hides are considered by scholars to be more significant in nature, while those written on [[gazelle]] or [[Capra (genus)|ibex]] are considered to be less religiously significant in nature.<ref name="aaas.org">{{cite web |author=Sommers |first=Benjamin |date=8 November 2006 |title=Scientists Decode Dead Sea Scrolls with DNA and Infrared Digital Photography |url=http://www.aaas.org/news/releases/2006/1108scrolls.shtml |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091013213623/http://www.aaas.org/news/releases/2006/1108scrolls.shtml |archive-date=13 October 2009 |publisher=AAAS}}</ref>

Tests by the [[Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare|National Institute of Nuclear Physics]] in [[Sicily]] have suggested that the origin of parchment of select Dead Sea Scroll fragments is from the Qumran area, by using [[X-ray]] and [[particle-induced X-ray emission]] testing of the water used to make the parchment that were compared with the water from the area aroundQumran.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.discovery.com/history/dead-sea-scrolls-protons.html|title=Dead Sea Scrolls Made Locally, Tests Show|publisher=Discovery|date=10 May 2017|access-date=1 June 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120814115417/http://news.discovery.com/history/dead-sea-scrolls-protons.html|archive-date=14 August 2012|url-status=live}}</ref>