Ancient parchment, microscopic plant fragments, chemical signatures, and a Mason jar recovered from a bomb shelter are converging in a new scientific search for answers at Qumran. Working with the Israel Antiquities Authority and European laboratories, researchers will examine about 250 samples of parchment, papyrus, and ink. Scientists will compare Qumran material with papyri from Egypt and other Judean Desert sites, then use AI to identify patterns in their chemical composition. Early tests reportedly detected plant material corresponding to several ingredients associated with ketoret, the sacred Temple incense, but the findings were never conclusive. Researchers hope to establish what the dust actually is—and, if it proves ancient and consistent with Temple incense, possibly reconstruct a recipe lost after the Second Temple’s destruction in 70 CE.