Art, obsession, and identity
The Dead Sea Scrolls, a collection of ancient Jewish manuscripts, were discovered in caves in the desert by Bedouin shepherds in 1946. This archaeological find is considered one of the greatest of the 20th century and is of immense historical, religious, and linguistic importance. These parchment scrolls are the only known surviving biblical documents written before 100 CE, providing insight into events that occurred over 2,000 years ago.
Explore this gallery to revisit the story behind this historical treasure.
In 1946, a group of Bedouin shepherds stumbled upon a set of ceramic jars inside a cave located in Wadi Qumran near the Dead Sea.
Muhammed edh-Dhib, a shepherd, offered to retrieve the jars. Intrigued, he opened one and found several scrolls made of parchment inside.
Unaware of their significance, the shepherd brought the seven scrolls to his desert camp as mementos. Later, he decided to sell them, and a year after that, they had changed hands once again.
In 1947, American biblical scholar and archaeologist John C. Trever became interested in the scrolls and quickly recognized their historical significance.
The next year, a surprising revelation was made to the world: the findings were ancient manuscripts of great religious and historical value, and later confirmed as the sole surviving biblical texts written prior to 100 CE.
At the close of 1948, researchers still hadn't pinpointed the exact cave in which the fragments were discovered. The Arab-Israeli conflict of 1948 had hindered all attempts to locate the site. However, in 1949, the cave, later named Cave 1, was rediscovered.
Additional Dead Sea Scroll fragments, along with linen cloth, jars (pictured), and other artifacts, were discovered at the Cave 1 site.
In November 1951, the excavation of Qumran began. By the end of 1952, five additional caves had been found, each yielding more scrolls and fragments. Cave 4 alone had 90% of the total number of scrolls discovered. Pictured: scrolls in their original location.
Among the manuscripts first discovered by the shepherd Muhammed edh-Dhib was the Isaiah scroll, which contains most of the Book of Isaiah.
This is the oldest fully intact copy of the Book of Isaiah. It consists of 17 parchment sheets and is the sole scroll from the Qumran caves that has been mostly preserved.
The first discovery in 1946 also revealed the Habakkuk Commentary, a pesher (a form of Hebrew commentary) from the latter half of the 1st century BCE.
Also discovered was the Genesis Apocryphon, a document in which Lamech, the biblical character and son of Methuselah, converses with his son, Noah.
From 1951 to 1956, a group from the American Schools of Oriental Research, led by Roland de Vaux, found 11 caves in Qumran that were recognized as repositories for different scrolls.
The discovery of the Damascus Document in Cave 4 in 1952 was not surprising to scholars, as two fragments had already been found in 1897 in the Cairo Geniza collection found in an Egyptian synagogue.
The debate regarding the origin of the Dead Sea Scrolls continues today. Most biblical scholars believe that the scrolls were created by a group of Jewish people known as the Essenes who resided in Qumran.
The Dead Sea Scrolls contain writings in Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Nabataean languages.
Scholars have gathered around 900 scrolls from the 11 caves, though a considerable number of them mainly comprise fragile and minuscule fragments.
The Isaiah scroll mentioned earlier is an exception, as it has a length of approximately 734 cm (24 ft) and a height ranging from 25.3 to 27 cm (0.83 to 0.89 ft). It consists of 54 columns of text.
The seven initial scrolls are located in the specialized Shrine of the Book, where the Isaiah scroll is prominently displayed. Additionally, the Aleppo Codex, a medieval manuscript of the Hebrew Bible, is also preserved in this facility.
The shrine's white dome is a representation of the lids of the jars where the initial scrolls were found.
The Shrine of the Book is situated in Jerusalem and is a part of the Israel Museum.
Since their initial finding, small parts of the Dead Sea Scrolls have been exhibited temporarily in museums globally. The photo depicts people waiting outside the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. during the inaugural traveling exhibition in 1965.
The objective in 2008 was to make the 2,000-year-old Dead Sea Scrolls accessible to the public and researchers via digital photography and the internet.
In the photo, an analyst from the Israel Antiquities Authority inspects fragments of the 2,000-year-old Dead Sea Scrolls at a lab prior to capturing photographs.
Israel collaborated with Google in 2011 to digitally publish 5,000 fragments of the ancient Dead Sea Scrolls.
Currently, individuals who are interested in the scrolls' history can access an online collection of images and gain further insight into one of the most significant discoveries in 20th-century archaeology.
In 2017, researchers discovered an additional cave near Qumran, situated on cliffs to the west. Upon closer inspection, it was determined that Cave 12 had been looted, likely during the 1950s. Sadly, the scrolls it undoubtedly concealed are believed lost forever.
See also: Rediscover Tutankhamun, ancient Egypt's most famous pharaoh
The unbelievable revelations of the Dead Sea Scrolls
Discover the truth about these priceless ancient manuscripts
LIFESTYLE History
The Dead Sea Scrolls, a collection of ancient Jewish manuscripts, were discovered in caves in the desert by Bedouin shepherds in 1946. This archaeological find is considered one of the greatest of the 20th century and is of immense historical, religious, and linguistic importance. These parchment scrolls are the only known surviving biblical documents written before 100 CE, providing insight into events that occurred over 2,000 years ago.
Explore this gallery to revisit the story behind this historical treasure.