Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls

In late 1946, early 1947, two Bedouin shepherds discovered clay jars in a cave.  The jars contained seven, fully intact, ancient scrolls written on parchment.  They took the scrolls back to show their family, where, not knowing what to do with them, they were hung on a tent pole of the family camp. 

The scrolls were eventually taken to a dealer in Bethlehem who said they were worthless.  The Bedouin then met with a couple of different dealers before agreeing to sell three of the scrolls for approximately $28.00.  Eventually the seven original scrolls made it into the hands of an American archaeologist who realized the importance of what had been discovered.

Scholars tried to search for the cave where the scrolls had been found, but were interrupted by the 1948 Israeli War of Independence.  After the war, a search was begun to find the original cave.  Archaeologists eventually discovered 11 different caves by 1956.  The additional caves produced close to 100 complete scrolls or texts, and literally thousands of fragments of scrolls.  In total, 981 different manuscripts are represented by the scrolls and fragments of scroll.  One scroll, detailing the construction of the Temple in Jerusalem was over 25 feet long.  In 2017 a 12^th cave was discovered with just fragments of the clay jars scrolls were kept in, a single piece of parchment rolled up in one jar, and abandoned pick axes.  It appears the cave was probably discovered, and looted, sometime in the 1950’s when the other caves were being discovered.

As with the debate over exactly where historical Biblical sites are located, there are multiple theories on who wrote the Dead Sea scrolls and why & when they were hidden away.  The more popular theory involves a sect of Jews called the Essenes.  Smaller in number in than the Pharisees or Sadducees, they lived throughout Israel, but it is thought there was a community of Essenes living in the vicinity of En Gedi (see the En Gedi post below) where these scrolls were probably written.  Sometime during Israel’s unsuccessful revolt against Rome in 66-73 CE (see the post about Masada below) the scrolls were thought to be hidden in the caves of Qumran and possibly forgotten about since the Roman Army successfully put down the revolt and many, many thousands of Jews were killed or enslaved.

Today you can see some of the scrolls, along with many fragments, at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

A panorama of Qumran

The terrain around Qumran

Can you count the caves?

A close-up of the larger cave in the above photo

Another cave

More caves

Still another cave

This sign describes Cave # 4, where the bulk of the fragments were found

The "Scrolls Cave", also known as Cave # 4, where the greatest number of scroll fragments were found

Another view of Cave # 4

If you look closely, you can see sunlight at the back of the cave.  Cave # 4 actually has two entrances into it and you're seeing the light from the other entrance.

Archaeologists found a cistern, now excavated, during their explorations

Through the haze you can see the Dead Sea, and the Kingdom of Jordan.  Just a shot to show how close Qumran is to the Dead Sea.

Today you can see some of the scrolls and fragments at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.  They are in an underground exhibit who's roof, shown here, is designed to look like the lid of the ancient clay jars they were found in.