What are the Dead Sea Scrolls?

What are the Dead Sea Scrolls? A fragment of a scroll during the preservation process. Courtesy of Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library, IAA. Photographer: Shai Halevi.

The Dead Sea Scrolls are considered the most important archaeological find of the 20th century. From 1947 to 1956, thousands of scroll fragments were uncovered in caves near Qumran on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea. Over the following decades, teams of scholars stitched these scrolls together to reconstruct an amazing library of texts from the 3rd century BC to the 1st century AD.

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In honor of the 75th anniversary of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, A Review of Biblical Archaeology Supplementary e-book released, The Dead Sea Scrolls: Past, Present and Future. From biblical scholars studying the texts, archaeologists discovering and preserving them, and computer scientists developing new ways to read them. free The eBook is packed with essays and interviews with some of the world’s leading scholars and promises to be an interesting and informative addition to any collection.

What are the Dead Sea Scrolls?

The books discovered at Qumran are certainly the most famous of the Dead Sea Scrolls, but they are not the only scrolls that have been found. Thus, to find out “What are the Dead Sea Scrolls?” A broader view is needed.

A scroll found at Masada, left behind by the Roman legions. Courtesy of Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library, IAA. Photographer: Shai Halevi.

Although the Qumran scrolls are the most numerous, hundreds of scroll fragments have been found in the Jordan Valley and many other sites in the Judean Desert. These texts date from the 8th century BC to the 7th century AD and record the lives and activities of the people who lived and passed through these regions. While the scrolls from Qumran are in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, other scrolls are written in Latin, Arabic and even Nabatean.

The collection covers a wide range of topics and genres. Perhaps the most interesting are the Bible Scrolls, which contain the writings of every book of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), with the possible exception of Easter. Other scrolls are Jewish communal writings, administrative documents, deeds of sale, and even divorce and marriage records.

Despite the name, the majority of scrolls are preserved as fragments, small scraps of what were once larger scrolls and documents. They were written on various materials ranging from leather to papyrus. While some scrolls are several feet long, many smaller pieces are no larger than a finger. To date, more than 25,000 fragments have been discovered, and extensive work has gone into collating, preserving, translating, and studying these various fragments.

A collection of small pieces, found in 2019. Courtesy of Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library, IAA. Photographer: Shai Halevi.

While the first scroll fragments were identified in 1947, others have continued to be found, most recently in 2019, when an expedition identified a portion of the Book of Zechariah, written in Greek, dating back to this period.

Why are the Dead Sea Scrolls important?

Moving on from the question “What are the Dead Sea Scrolls?” , we now turn to the question “Why are books important?” The discovery of books is notable on several counts. First, it is quite unusual for an ancient scroll – usually written on parchment or papyrus – to be preserved in the archaeological record. Due to the organic nature of such writing materials, they decompose quickly. Yet the arid environment of the Judean desert allowed these texts to survive. After more than two thousand years, they are still capable!

Second, they illuminate the composition of the Bible. Before their discovery, the earliest surviving copies of the Hebrew Bible date from about 1000 to 1000 AD. Scholars are able to see continuity between the scroll and later biblical manuscripts. Yet they have also found some variations. For example, some scrolls of Exodus and Samuel from Qumran preserve things that were absent from later biblical manuscripts. These may represent different traditions that were circulating at the time the scroll was written – or scribal errors that crept into some manuscripts. The Dead Sea Scrolls are, thus, an important role in the reconstruction of the biblical text.

11Q5 Psalm: One of the Dead Sea Scrolls records a passage through the book of Psalms. Courtesy of Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library, IAA. Photographer: Shai Halevi.

Third, they provide a window into the world of their authors. This book did not simply rewrite the history of the development of the Hebrew Bible. He rewrote the history of Judea at the end of the Second Temple. Most of these texts were written while the Second Temple was still standing in Jerusalem. When Jewish sects, including the Pharisees and Sadducees, argued about the correct interpretation of the law. And when the Greeks, the Hasmoneans, and then the Romans—with Herod as a client king—roamed the region. Some other texts date to the time of the First Temple, the 8th century BC, while others are as late as the Islamic conquest in the 7th century AD.

Who wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls?

We have answered the questions “What are the Dead Sea Scrolls?” and “Why are the Dead Sea Scrolls important?” But who wrote the scrolls? This question is particularly important when discussing the scrolls found at Qumran.

Indeed, the identity of the authors is debated, but many associate them with the Essene community, another Jewish sect, who lived at Qumran. After that, books would be his library. As written above, the environment around Qumran is dry. Although it was more fertile in antiquities than it is today, it still wouldn’t have been the most comfortable place to live. Yet it suited the Essenes, who sought to distance themselves from society in order to live a pure, virtuous life according to a strict interpretation of Jewish law. One of the documents is exposed in a scroll Community ruleprovides some insight into life for the Qumran community – if indeed he is the author of this book. We see from other texts that this group was anticipating end-of-days, eschatological events. They believed that the promised Messiah would return soon, end corrupt society, and usher in the Kingdom of God.

Monsignor Patrick Sukhan, one of the original scroll scholars. Courtesy of Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library, IAA. Photographer: Shai Halevi.

The scrolls help us recreate this historical moment. We learn about the diverse religious landscape of Judaism during this period – which emerged from early Christianity. Because it was during this time, in the first century AD, the last century of the creation of the Dead Sea Scrolls, that Jesus of Nazareth began his ministry.

Carefully treating one of the pieces of the scroll. Courtesy of Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library, IAA. Photographer: Shai Halevi.

About the time of the Temple’s destruction, the Qumran settlement was abandoned around 70 AD, and their library was forgotten—that is, until 75 years ago.

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Want to learn more about their history, impact and scrolling studies? Then download our free E-Books Today! This e-book, The Dead Sea Scrolls: Past, Present and Futurelooks at their contributions to biblical and historical scholarship, and their contributions to their preservation and future research efforts around the discovery of the scrolls. It draws articles published in it A Review of Biblical Archaeologywas written by leading scholars and players in the field over the past two decades – including our late editor and founder, Herschel Shanks, who helped liberate the scroll from the scholarly monopoly that had held it captive for decades.

Workers with the IAA shovel dirt into the mountain cave that contained the scroll. Courtesy of Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library, IAA. Photographer: Eaton Klein.

In related reading Bible History Daily

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The Masoretic Text and the Dead Sea Scrolls

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The History of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Looking Back on the Last 75 Years

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The Dead Sea Scrolls and Early Christianity: Part One

The Dead Sea Scrolls and Early Christianity: Part Two

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This article was first published in Bible History Daily on August 29, 2022.