Dead Sea Scrolls

Author: Theodore H. Gast
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-03-01
Features: In the spring of 1947, the accidental discovery of hidden ancient scrolls in a cave near Jericho, known as the Ancient Jewish Manuscripts, which today are called the Dead Sea Scrolls, led to one of the most remarkable discoveries of the century. Between 1948 and 1956, 11 caves (designated as Cave 1–11) containing manuscripts were found in the northern corner of the western shore of the Dead Sea, near the area known as Khirbet Qumran. From these caves, a large number of ancient scrolls of the Old Testament and other manuscripts were unearthed, totaling over 600 varieties, with fragments numbering in the tens of thousands. At the same time, scholars developed an interest in Khirbet Qumran itself and began systematic archaeological excavations in the area, as well as architectural surveys of the entire region between Khirbet Qumran and Ein Fenshka. The pottery and other artifacts discovered indicate the inhabitants and living conditions of the same period, linking the main period of habitation at Qumran with the dates of the scroll writings. Most of the manuscripts were determined to have been written between 200 BCE and 68 BCE; while scrolls from earlier periods than the settlement of the Qumran area may have been brought from elsewhere. These vast scrolls are rare in modern archaeological history and are also referred to by Western academia as one of the most significant documentary discoveries of the contemporary era.