High-tech imaging for ancient Dead Sea Scrolls

JERUSALEM (CNN) - Israeli authorities unveiled a new initiative Wednesday to better preserve and expand access to the ancient Dead Sea Scrolls, using high-tech digital imaging to shed new light on the 2,000-year-old texts.

Over the next two years, the Israel Antiquities Authority will digitally photograph and scan every bit of crumbling parchment and papyrus that makes up the scrolls, which include the oldest written record of the Bible's Old Testament. The images will be posted on the Internet for anyone to see.

It is widely believed that the first set of Dead Sea Scrolls was discovered in 1947 by a bedouin shepherd who ventured into a cave in the Judean Desert in search of a lost sheep or goat. Eventually, 11 caves were found to contain scrolls - some dating back more than 2,000 years.