Dead Sea Scrolls
The Dead Sea Scrolls, also called the Qumran Caves Scrolls, are a set of ancient Jewish manuscripts from the Second Temple period. They were discovered over a period of 10 years, between 1946 and 1956, at the Qumran Caves near Ein Feshkha in the West Bank, on the northern shore of the Dead Sea. Dating from the 3rd century BCE to the 1st century CE,[1] the Dead Sea Scrolls include the oldest surviving manuscripts of entire books later included in the biblical canons, along with extra-biblical and deuterocanonical manuscripts from late Second Temple Judaism. At the same time, they cast new light on the emergence of Christianity and of Rabbinic Judaism.[2] Almost all of the 15,000 scrolls and scroll fragments are held in the Shrine of the Book at the Israel Museum, located in the city of Jerusalem. The Israeli government's custody of the Dead Sea Scrolls is disputed by Jordan and the Palestinian Authority on territorial, legal, and humanitarian grounds—they were mostly discovered following the Jordanian annexation of the West Bank and were acquired by Israel after Jordan lost the 1967 Arab–Israeli War[3]—whilst Israel's claims are primarily based on historical and religious grounds, given their significance in Jewish history and in the heritage of Judaism.[4]
Dead Sea Scrolls
Parchment, papyrus, and copper
c. 3rd century BCE – 1st century CE
1946/1947–1956
Qumran Caves near Ein Feshkha
Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Jordan Museum, Amman
Many thousands of written fragments have been discovered in the Dead Sea area. They represent the remnants of larger manuscripts damaged by natural causes or through human interference, with the vast majority holding only small scraps of text. However, a small number of well-preserved and near-intact manuscripts have survived—fewer than a dozen among those from the Qumran Caves.[1] Researchers have assembled a collection of 981 different manuscripts (discovered in 1946/1947 and in 1956) from 11 caves,[5] which lie in the immediate vicinity of the Hellenistic Jewish settlement at the site of Khirbet Qumran in the eastern Judaean Desert, in the West Bank.[6] The caves are located about 1.5 kilometres (1 mi) west of the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea, whence they derive their name. Archaeologists have long associated the scrolls with the ancient Jewish sect known as the Essenes, although some recent interpretations have challenged this connection and argue that priests in Jerusalem, or Zadokites, or other unknown Jewish groups wrote the scrolls.[7][8]
Most of the manuscripts are written in Hebrew, with some written in Aramaic (for example the Son of God Text; in different regional dialects, including Nabataean) and a few in Greek.[9] Discoveries from the Judaean Desert add Latin (from Masada) and Arabic (from Khirbet al-Mird).[10] Most of the texts are written on parchment, some on papyrus, and one on copper.[11] Though scholarly consensus dates the Dead Sea Scrolls to between the 3rd century BCE and the 1st century CE,[12] there are manuscripts from associated Judaean Desert sites that are dated to as early as the 8th century BCE and as late as the 11th century CE.[12] Bronze coins found at the same sites form a series beginning with John Hyrcanus, a ruler of the Hasmonean Kingdom (in office 135–104 BCE), and continuing until the period of the First Jewish–Roman War (66–73 CE), supporting the paleography and radiocarbon dating of the scrolls.[13]
Owing to the poor condition of some of the scrolls, scholars have not identified all of their texts. The identified texts fall into three general groups:
Dead Sea Scroll 175, complete, Testimonia, from Qumran Cave 4, the Jordan Museum in Amman
Dead Sea Scroll 28a from Qumran Cave 1, complete, the Jordan Museum in Amman
Part of Dead Sea Scroll 28a from Qumran Cave 1. The Jordan Museum, Amman
Dead Sea Scroll, Pesher Isaiah, from Qumran Cave 4. The Jordan Museum, Amman
Dead Sea Scroll 175, Testimonia, from Qumran Cave 4. The Jordan Museum, Amman
Dead Sea Scroll 109, Qohelet or Ecclesiastes, from Qumran Cave 4. The Jordan Museum, Amman
Dead Sea Scrolls at the Jordan Museum in Amman
Strips of the Copper Dead Sea Scroll at the Jordan Museum, from Qumran Cave 3, 1st century CE
Strip 11 of the Copper Dead Sea Scroll, from Qumran Cave 3, Jordan Museum
Strip 15 of the Copper Dead Sea Scroll, from Qumran Cave 3, Jordan Museum
Strip 13 of the Copper Dead Sea Scroll, from Qumran Cave 3, Jordan Museum
Strips 1 and 2 of the Copper Dead Sea Scroll, from Qumran Cave 3, Jordan Museum
Dead Sea Scroll 109, Qohelet or Ecclesiastes, from Qumran Cave 4, the Jordan Museum in Amman
Dead Sea Scroll 109, Qohelet or Ecclesiastes, from Qumran Cave 4, at the Jordan Museum in Amman
Dead Sea Scroll, Pesher Isaiah, from Qumran Cave 4, the Jordan Museum in Amman
Dead Sea Scroll 175, Testimonia, from Qumran Cave 4, the Jordan Museum in Amman
Detail, Dead Sea Scroll 175, Testimonia, from Qumran Cave 4, the Jordan Museum in Amman
Dead Sea Scroll 28a from Qumran Cave 1, the Jordan Museum in Amman
Part of Dead Sea Scroll 28a from Qumran Cave 1, the Jordan Museum in Amman
Part of Dead Sea Scroll 28a from Qumran Cave 1, at the Jordan Museum in Amman
Dead Sea Scroll fragment 5/6HEV PS found in the Cave of Letters at Nahal Hever
