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As she peers into dimly lit glass cases, Tiffany Grevious takes a closer look at 2,000 years of history — the Dead Sea Scrolls.

"To actually see the wrinkles and the creases and the strokes, it kind of brings personalized view to it," she says. "I can imagine just some old guy sitting on a chair, writing."

As part of its latest exhibition, Discovery Times Square takes visitors back in time to ancient Jerusalem, with the Dead Sea scrolls as the main attraction.

"I think this is the greatest archaeological find of the 20th century," says Lawrence Schiffman of Yeshiva University, who served as an academic advisor to the exhibit.

Bedouins first discovered the scrolls in 1947 inside caves near the Dead Sea bordering what is now Israel, the West Bank and Jordan. Written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, the tens of thousands of broken pieces of parchment make up some 900 scrolls dating as far back as the 3rd century B.C.

The ancient manuscripts contain a nearly complete Hebrew Bible or Old Testament and other non-religious texts. Most scholars believe the documents were written by the Essenes, an ancient Jewish sect.

One of 20 scrolls on a rotating display on loan from Israel is from the Book of Psalms.

"When you actually see the Dead Sea Scrolls close up and everything else that we're exhibiting here along with it, you get this feeling that you can reach across thousands of
years," said Schiffman. "Realize when you talk about the significance of the Bible, and then the entire history of Judaism and Christianity and its importance to our society, you get to really see that it's something real. It's not just some kind of old story. There really were people and there really were books."

Just a few feet from the scrolls are ossuaries, or chests used to hold bone remains, inscribed with the names of Jesus, Joseph and Mary in Aramaic. But scholars say they are not the ossuaries of Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary and Joseph.

"These were the most common names that existed in antiquity," says Schiffman.

Bringing it back to the modern day, the exhibit concludes with a continuous live feed of prayer at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

"The Dead Sea Scrolls: Life And Faith In Biblical Times" is on view through April 15. For more information, visit www.discoverytsx.com.