This is a simply fascinating rediscovery but one wonders at the depth of the likely reactionary result that will ensue from an Islamic world dominated by anti-intellectualism and violence. The 7th Century mentality that expresses itself by death threats and suicide if women learn to read or attend school, will certainly strike with violence at any "Western" notions of scholarship and scientific criticism of textual materials. This appears to have been recognized by the scholars involved as they apparently felt compelled to visit Islamic nations explaining with apologetics for their interest in scholarship and understanding. This is certainly a ridiculous state of affairs and only potentially compromised their findings. One can look with interest at the results of the studies, much as the scholarly results of biblical study evokes, but scholarship and Islamic notions of the world would seem to be incompatible and dangerous for the scholars involved. Onc can only wish the scholars well and proclain that scholars must never yield on the matter of freedom to inquire about anything, anywhere and any time.

Never mind scholars going in fear of their lives from Moslem fanatics, would they ever be allowed to pursue such scholarship on PC American campuses? Hell, it might cause offence.

Indeed, an excellent point. That there are research or discussion topics that cannot be discussed on American campuses, reflects how much we have compromised ourselves in terms of intellectual honesty. Free inquiry, if mediated anywhere by "correctness" is not free, and we all lose.

Well, the Dead Sea SCrolls were also "sat upon" for some thirty years. Fears, power plays, whatever, some scholars do not share the way they should have been taught by age six.
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"The text ... didn't evolve or get edited."

Uh, belief does not necessarily equate to truth. It was compiled from a large number of sources, and a great deal of culling was done - much material obviously from after his death, but there were a lot of texts/fragments that caused dissension among the compilers and a lot of that may have been from the time's equivalent of "political correctness" as well as actual pressures from the rulers and bureaucracies.

Part of the ironic history of the "Scrolls" of course, as I recall, is that the bulk of the material was in East Jerusuleum and in the control of Jordan and the late King Hussein. Golda Meir pleaded with Hussein to stay out of the 1967 war and there would be no attempt to move on the areas he controlled, the West Bank and Gaza. The King apparently feared being murdered by his Arab "friends" in Egypt (Nasser) and Syria and Iraq if he did not send his army and airforce against Israelm and Jordan entered the war. The Scrolls, mostly found in 1948-49 I believe had supposedly under study by a group of non-Jewish scholars--Jews were not allowed into the Old City or to study Jewish archeology. With the victory, Scroll studies accelerated finally, but really moved along when Hershel Shanks and his journal, "Biblical Archaeology" finally brought great pressure to bear to publish the documents. It is truly ironic that were it not for the King of Jordan's fears of being murdered by his Arab friends, and the quick loss of the 1967 War, we would still not have access to the Scrolls.