Many thousands of written fragments have been discovered in the Dead Sea area – most have been published, together with the details of their discovery, in the 40-volumeDiscoveries in the Judaean Desert. 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 nearly 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 theHellenistic Jewish settlement at the site ofKhirbet Qumran in the easternJudaean 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 the scrolls derive their name. Archaeologists have long associated the scrolls with the ancientJewish sect known as theEssenes, although some recent interpretations have challenged this connection and argue thatpriests in Jerusalem or other unknown Jewish groups wrote the scrolls.[7][8]
Most of the manuscripts are written inHebrew, with some written inAramaic (for example theSon of God Text, in different regional dialects, includingNabataean) and a few inGreek.[9] Other discoveries from the Judaean Desert addLatin (fromMasada), and some laterArabic manuscripts from the 7th-8th centuries CE (fromKhirbet al-Mird).[10] Most of the texts are written onparchment, some onpapyrus, andone 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 Arabic manuscripts from associated Judaean Desert sites that are dated between the 8th and 10th century CE.[12] Bronze coins found at the same sites form a series beginning withJohn Hyrcanus, a ruler of theHasmonean Kingdom (in office 135–104 BCE), and continuing until the period of theFirst Jewish–Roman War (66–73 CE), supporting thepaleography andradiocarbon 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:
Caves at QumranQumran cave 4, where ninety per cent of the scrolls were found
The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in a series of 12 caves around the site originally known asEin Feshkha near theDead Sea in theWest Bank (thencontrolled by Jordan) between 1946 and 1956 byBedouin shepherds and a team of archaeologists.[15] The practice of storing worn-out sacred manuscripts in earthenware vessels buried in the earth or within caves is related to the ancient Jewish custom ofgenizah.
Initial discovery (1946–1947)
The initial discovery by Bedouin shepherd Muhammed edh-Dhib, his cousin Jum'a Muhammed, and Khalil Musa took place between November 1946 and February 1947.[16][17] The shepherds discovered seven scrolls(see§ Caves and their contents) housed in jars in a cave near what is now known as theQumran site.John C. Trever reconstructed the story of the scrolls from several interviews with the Bedouins. Edh-Dhib's cousin noticed the caves, but edh-Dhib was the first to actually fall into one (the cave now called Cave 1). He retrieved a handful of scrolls, which Trever identifies as theIsaiah Scroll,Habakkuk Commentary, and theCommunity Rule, and took them back to the camp to show to his family. None of the scrolls were destroyed in this process.[18] The Bedouins kept the scrolls hanging on a tent pole while they contemplated what they should do with them, periodically showing the scrolls to their people. At some point during this time, the Community Rule was split in two. The Bedouins first took the scrolls to a dealer named Ibrahim 'Ijha inBethlehem. 'Ijha returned them, saying they were worthless, after being warned that they might have been stolen from a synagogue. Undaunted, the Bedouins went to a nearby market, where a Syrian Christian offered to buy them. A sheikh joined their conversation and suggested that they take the scrolls to Khalil Eskander Shahin, "Kando", a cobbler and part-time antiques dealer. The Bedouins and the dealers returned to the site, leaving one scroll with Kando and selling three others to a dealer for sevenJordanian pounds (approximately $28, or $394 in 2024 dollars).[18][19] The original scrolls continued to change hands after the Bedouins left them in the possession of a third party until a sale could be arranged.(seeOwnership.)
In 1947 the original seven scrolls caught the attention of Trever of theAmerican Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR), who compared the script in the scrolls to theNash Papyrus, the oldest biblical manuscript then known, and found similarities between them. In March the1948 Arab–Israeli War prompted the move of some of the scrolls toBeirut, Lebanon, for safekeeping. On 11 April 1948,Millar Burrows, head of the ASOR, announced the discovery of the scrolls in a general press release.
Search for the Qumran caves (1948–1949)
Early in September 1948, Metropolitan bishopMar Samuel brought some additional scroll fragments that he had acquired to professorOvid R. Sellers, the succeeding director of ASOR. By the end of 1948, nearly two years after the discovery of the scrolls, scholars had yet to locate the original cave where the fragments had been found. With unrest in the country at that time, no large-scale search could be safely undertaken. Sellers tried to persuade theSyrians to assist in the search for the cave, but he was unable to pay their price. In early 1949, the government of Jordan granted permission to theArab Legion to search the area in which the original Qumran cave was believed to exist. Consequently, Cave 1 was rediscovered on 28 January 1949 by BelgianUnited Nationsobserver captain Phillipe Lippens and Arab Legion captain Akkash el-Zebn.[20]
Qumran caves rediscovery and new scroll discoveries (1949–1951)
A view of the Dead Sea from a cave at Qumran in which some of the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered
The rediscovery of what became known as Cave 1 at Qumran prompted the initial excavation of the site from 15 February to 5 March 1949 by the JordanianDepartment of Antiquities, led byGerald Lankester Harding andRoland de Vaux.[21]: 9 The Cave 1 site yielded discoveries of additional Dead Sea Scroll fragments, linen cloth, jars, and other artefacts.[20]
Excavations of Qumran and new cave discoveries (1951–1956, 2017, 2021)
In November 1951, de Vaux and his team from the ASOR began a full excavation of Qumran.[22] By February 1952, the Bedouins had discovered 30 fragments in what was to be designated Cave 2.[21] The discovery of a second cave eventually yielded 300 fragments from 33 manuscripts, including fragments ofJubilees and theWisdom of Sirach written in Hebrew.[20][22] The following month, on 14 March 1952, the ASOR team discovered a third cave with fragments of Jubilees and theCopper Scroll.[21] Between September and December 1952, the fragments and scrolls of Caves 4, 5, and 6 were discovered by the ASOR teams.[22]
With the monetary value of the scrolls rising as their historical significance was made more public, the Bedouins and the ASOR archaeologists accelerated their search for the scrolls separately in the same general area of Qumran, which was more than one kilometre in length. Between 1953 and 1956, de Vaux led four more archaeological expeditions in the area to uncover scrolls and artefacts.[20] Cave 11 was discovered in 1956 and yielded the last fragments to be found in the vicinity of Qumran.[23]
Caves 4–10 are clustered in an area lying in relative proximity 150 m (160 yd) from Khirbet Qumran, while caves 1, 2, 3 and 11 are located 1 mile (1–2 kilometres) north, with Cave 3 the most remote.[24][25] In February 2017, Hebrew University archaeologists announced the discovery of a new 12th cave.[26] There was one blank parchment found in a jar, but broken and empty scroll jars and pickaxes suggest that the cave was looted in the 1950s.[27]
In March 2021, Israeli archaeologists announced the discovery of dozens of fragments bearing biblical text, written in Greek, from the books ofZechariah andNahum. This group of findings is believed to have been hidden in a cave between 132 and 136 CE during theBar Kokhba revolt.[28] However, a 10,500-year-old basket made of wovenreeds was also discovered in theMuraba'at caves in the Nahal Darga Reserve. Other discoveries included the remains of a child wrapped in cloth dated to around 6,000 years ago, and a cache of coins from the days of the Bar Kochba revolt.[29] In 2021, more scrolls were discovered by Israeli authorities in a different cave near the Dead Sea called theCave of Horrors.[30][31]
The 972 manuscripts found at Qumran were found primarily in two separate formats: asscrolls and as fragments of previous scrolls and texts. In the fourth cave the fragments were torn into up to 15,000 pieces. These small fragments created somewhat of a problem for scholars. G.L. Harding, director of the Jordanian Department of Antiquities, began working on piecing the fragments together but did not finish this before his death in 1979.[32]
Wadi Qumran Cave 2 was discovered in February 1952 in which the Bedouins discovered 30 fragments.[21] The cave eventually yielded 300 fragments from 33 manuscripts of Dead Sea Scrolls, including fragments of Jubilees and the Wisdom of Sirach written in Hebrew.[35][36]
Cave 3
Wadi Qumran Cave 3 was discovered on 14 March 1952 by the ASOR team. The cave initially yielded fragments of Jubilees and the Copper Scroll.[21]: 10–11
Caves 4a and 4b
TheDamascus Document Scroll, 4Q271Df, found in Cave 44Q7, a fragment of the book of Genesis found in Cave 4
Wadi Qumran Cave 4 was discovered in August 1952 and was excavated from 22 to 29 September 1952 by Harding, de Vaux, andJózef Milik.[37][21]: 10–11 Cave 4 is actually two hand-cut caves (4a and 4b), but since the fragments were mixed they are labelled as 4Q. Cave 4 is the most famous of Qumran caves both because of its visibility from the Qumran plateau and its productivity. It is visible from the plateau to the south of the Qumran settlement. It is by far the most productive of all Qumran caves, producing 90% of the Dead Sea Scrolls and scroll fragments (approx. 15,000 fragments from 500 different texts), including 9–10 copies of Jubilees, along with 21tefillin and 7mezuzot.
Cave 5
Wadi Qumran Cave 5 was discovered in 1952, shortly after the discovery of Cave 4. Cave 5 produced approximately 25 manuscripts.[21]
Cave 6
Wadi Qumran Cave 6 was discovered alongside Cave 5 in 1952, shortly after the discovery of Cave 4. Cave 6 contained fragments of about 31 manuscripts.[21]
Cave 7
Dead Sea Scroll fragments 7Q4,7Q5, and 7Q8 from Cave 7 in Qumran, written on papyrus
Wadi Qumran Cave 7 yielded fewer than 20 fragments of Greek documents, including 7Q2 (the "Letter of Jeremiah" =Baruch 6),7Q5 (which became the subject of much speculation in later decades), and a Greek copy of a scroll of Enoch.[38][39][40] Cave 7 also produced several inscribed potsherds and jars.[41][42][43]: 104, 109
Cave 8
Wadi Qumran Cave 8, along with caves 7 and 9, is one of the only caves that are accessible by passing through the settlement at Qumran. Carved into the southern end of the Qumran plateau, cave 8 was excavated by archaeologists in 1957. Cave 8 produced five fragments: Genesis (8QGen), Psalms (8QPs), a tefillin fragment (8QPhyl), a mezuzah (8QMez), and a hymn (8QHymn).[44] Cave 8 also produced several tefillin cases, a box of leather objects, many lamps, jars, and the sole of a leather shoe.[41][42][43]
Cave 9
Wadi Qumran Cave 9, along with caves 7 and 8, was one of the only caves that are accessible by passing through the settlement at Qumran. Carved into the southern end of the Qumran plateau, Cave 9 was excavated by archaeologists in 1957. There was only one manuscript fragment found in Cave 9.
Cave 10
In Qumran Cave 10 archaeologists found twoostraca with writing on them, along with an unknown symbol on a grey stone slab.
Cave 11
A view of part of theTemple Scroll that was found in Qumran Cave 11
Wadi Qumran Cave 11 was discovered in 1956 and yielded 21 texts of the Dead Sea Scrolls, some of which were quite lengthy. TheTemple Scroll, so called because more than half of it pertains to the construction of theTemple of Jerusalem, was found in Cave 11 and is by far the longest scroll. It is 26.7 feet (8.15 m) long; its original length may have been over 28 feet (8.75 m). The Temple Scroll was regarded by scholarYigael Yadin as "The Torah According to the Essenes". On the other hand, Hartmut Stegemann, a contemporary and friend of Yadin, believes the scroll was not to be regarded as such but was a document without exceptional significance. Stegemann notes that it is not mentioned or cited in any known Essene writing.[45]
Cave 12 was discovered in February 2017 on cliffs west of Qumran, near the north-western shore of the Dead Sea.[26] Archaeological examination found pickaxes and empty broken scroll jars, indicating that the cave had been discovered and looted in the 1950s. One of the jointHebrew University of Jerusalem andLiberty University project's lead researchers, Oren Gutfeld, stated, "Although at the end of the day no scroll was found, and instead we 'only' found a piece of parchment rolled up in a jug that was being processed for writing, the findings indicate beyond any doubt that the cave contained scrolls that were stolen."[27]
Fragments with unknown provenance
Some fragments of scrolls have neither significant archaeologicalprovenance nor records that reveal in which designated Qumran cave area they were found. They are believed to have come from Wadi Qumran caves but are just as likely to have come from other archaeological sites in the Judaean Desert area.[47] These fragments have therefore been designated to the temporary "X" series.
A portion of the second discovered copy of theIsaiah Scroll, 1QIsab.
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
Origin
There has been much debate about the origin of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The dominant theory remains that the scrolls were produced by the Essenes, a sect of Jews living at nearby Qumran, but this theory has come to be challenged by several modern scholars.[48]
The view among scholars, almost universally held until the 1990s, is the "Qumran–Essene" hypothesis originally posited by Roland Guérin de Vaux[49] and Józef Tadeusz Milik,[50] though independently bothEliezer Sukenik and Butrus Sowmy ofSt Mark's Monastery connected scrolls with the Essenes well before any excavations at Qumran.[51] The Qumran–Essene theory holds that the scrolls were written by the Essenes or by another Jewish sectarian group residing at Khirbet Qumran. They composed the scrolls and ultimately hid them in the nearby caves during theJewish Revolt sometime between 66 and 68 CE. The site of Qumran was destroyed and the scrolls never recovered. Arguments supporting this theory include:
There are striking similarities between the description of an initiation ceremony of new members in the Community Rule and descriptions of the Essene initiation ceremony mentioned in the works of FlaviusJosephus, a Jewish-Roman historian of the Second Temple period.
Josephus mentioned the Essenes as sharing property among the members of the community, as does the Community Rule.
During the excavation of Khirbet Qumran, two inkwells and plastered elements thought to be tables were found, offering evidence that some form of writing was done there. More inkwells were discovered nearby. De Vaux called this area the "scriptorium" based upon this discovery.
Several Jewishritual baths (Hebrew:מקוה,miqvah) were discovered at Qumran, offering evidence of an observantJewish presence at the site.
Pliny the Elder (a geographer writing after the fall ofJerusalem in 70 CE) described a group of Essenes living in a desert community on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea near the ruined town of 'Ein Gedi.
Qumran–Sectarian theory
Qumran–Sectarian theories are variations on the Qumran–Essene theory. The main point of departure from the Qumran–Essene theory is hesitation to link the Dead Sea Scrolls specifically with the Essenes. Most proponents of the Qumran–Sectarian theory posit a group of Jews living in or near Qumran were responsible for the Dead Sea Scrolls but do not necessarily conclude that the sectarians were Essenes.
A specific variation on the Qumran–Sectarian theory emerged in the 1990s that has gained much recent popularity is the work ofLawrence H. Schiffman, who proposes that the community was led by a group ofZadokite priests (Sadducees).[52] The most important document in support of this view is the "Miqsat Ma'ase Ha-Torah" (4QMMT), which cites purity laws (such as the transfer of impurities) identical to those attributed in rabbinic writings to the Sadducees. 4QMMT also reproduces a festival calendar that follows Sadducee principles for the dating of certain festival days.
SpanishJesuitJosé O'Callaghan Martínez argued in the 1960s that one fragment (7Q5) preserves a portion of text from theNew TestamentGospel of Mark 6:52–53.[53] This theory was scrutinized in the year 2000 bypaleographic analysis of the particular fragment. However, this faced some contention, and O'Callaghan's theory remains an area of great dispute. Later analyses in 2004 and 2018 lent credence to O'Callaghan's original assertion.[citation needed]
Some scholars have argued that the scrolls were the product of Jews living in Jerusalem who hid the scrolls in the caves near Qumran while fleeing from theRomans during thedestruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE.[55] Karl Heinrich Rengstorf first proposed in the 1960s that the Dead Sea Scrolls originated at the library of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem.[56] Later,Norman Golb suggested that the scrolls were the product of multiple libraries in Jerusalem and not necessarily the Jerusalem Temple library.[57][58] Proponents of the Jerusalem origin theory point to the diversity of thought and handwriting among the scrolls as evidence against a Qumran origin of the scrolls. Several archaeologists have also accepted an origin of the scrolls other than Qumran, includingYizhar Hirschfeld[59] and more recently Yizhak Magen and Yuval Peleg,[60] who all understand the remains of Qumran to be those of aHasmonean fort that was reused during later periods.
Physical characteristics
Fragments 1 and 2 of '7Q6' from Cave 7 are written on papyrus.
Parchment from a number of the Dead Sea Scrolls has beencarbon dated. The initial test performed in 1950 was on a piece of linen from one of the caves. This test gave an indicative dating of 33 CE plus or minus 200 years, eliminating early hypotheses relating the scrolls to theMedieval period.[61] Since then two large series of tests have been performed on the scrolls. The results were summarized by VanderKam and Flint, who said the tests give "strong reason for thinking that most of the Qumran manuscripts belong to the last two centuries BCE and the first century CE."[19]: 32
In 2025, a series of radiocarbon tests were carried out on samples from thirty scrolls. The samples were distributed as 25 from theQumran Caves, 1 fromMasada, 2 from theMurabbaat caves, and 2 from theNahal Hever caves. The study also made use of anAI-based date-prediction model called "Enoch", which was trained by applyingBayesian ridge regression on the handwriting-style descriptors of 24 of the 14C-dated samples, for the paleographic dating of some 135 previously undated manuscripts.[62]
Paleographic dating
Analysis of letter forms, orpalaeography, was applied to the texts of the Dead Sea Scrolls by a variety of scholars in the field. Major linguistic analysis byCross andAvigad dates fragments from 225 BCE to 50 CE.[63] These dates were determined by examining the size, variability, and style of the text.[64] The same fragments were later analysed using radiocarbon dating and were dated to an estimated range of 385 BCE to 82 CE with a 68% accuracy rate.[63]
Ink and parchment
The scrolls were analysed using acyclotron at theUniversity of California, Davis, where it was found that all black ink wascarbon black.[65] The red ink on the scrolls was found to be made withcinnabar (HgS, mercury sulfide).[66] There are only four uses of this red ink in the entire collection of Dead Sea Scroll fragments.[66] The black inks found on the scrolls are mostly made of carbon soot fromolive oil lamps.[67] Honey, oil, vinegar, and water were often added to the mixture to thin the ink to a proper consistency for writing.[67]Galls were sometimes added to the ink to make it more resilient.[67] In order to apply the ink to the scrolls, its writers usedreed pens.[68]
The Dead Sea Scrolls were written onparchment made of processedanimal hide known asvellum (approximately 85.5–90.5% of the scrolls),papyrus (estimated at 8–13% of the scrolls), and sheets ofbronze composed of about 99%copper and 1%tin (approximately 1.5% of the scrolls).[68][69] For those scrolls written on animal hides, scholars with theIsraeli Antiquities Authority (IAA), by use of DNA testing for assembly purposes, believe that there may be a hierarchy in the religious importance of the texts based on which type of animal was used to create the hide. Scrolls written ongoat andcalf hides are considered by scholars to be more significant in nature, while those written ongazelle oribex are considered to be less religiously significant in nature.[70]
Two of the pottery jars that held some of the Dead Sea Scrolls found at QumranTwo Dead Sea Scrolls jars at the Jordan Museum, Amman
The Dead Sea Scrolls that were found were originally preserved by the arid conditions present within the Qumran area adjoining the Dead Sea.[72] In addition, the lack of the use oftanning materials on the parchment of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the very low airflow in the caves also contributed significantly to their preservation.[73] Some of the scrolls were found stored in clay jars, further helping to preserve them from deterioration. The original handling of the scrolls by archaeologists and scholars was done inappropriately, and, along with their storage in an uncontrolled environment, they began a process of more rapid deterioration than they had experienced at Qumran.[74] During the first few years in the late 1940s and early 1950s, adhesive tape used to join fragments and seal cracks caused significant damage to the documents.[74] The government of Jordan had recognized the urgency of protecting the scrolls from deterioration and the presence of the deterioration among the scrolls.[75] However, the government did not have adequate funds to purchase all the scrolls for their protection and agreed to have foreign institutions purchase the scrolls and have them held at their museum in Jerusalem until they could be "adequately studied".[75]
In early 1953, the scrolls were moved to the Palestine Archaeological Museum (commonly called theRockefeller Museum)[76] in East Jerusalem and through their transportation suffered more deterioration and damage.[19]: 63–65 The museum was underfunded and had limited resources with which to examine the scrolls, and as a result conditions of the "scrollery" and storage area were left relatively uncontrolled by modern standards.[19] The museum had left most of the fragments and scrolls lying between window glass, trapping the moisture in with them, causing an acceleration in the deterioration process. During theSuez Crisis the scrolls collection of the Palestine Archaeological Museum was stored in the vault of theOttoman Bank inAmman, Jordan.[77] Damp conditions from temporary storage of the scrolls in the Ottoman Bank vault from 1956 to 1957 led to a more rapid rate of deterioration of the scrolls. The conditions caused mildew to develop on the scrolls and fragments, and some fragments were partially destroyed or made illegible by the glue and paper of themanila envelopes in which they were stored while in the vault.[77] By 1958 it was noted that up to 5% of some of the scrolls had completely deteriorated.[75] Many of the texts had become illegible, and many of the parchments had darkened considerably.[19][74]
Until the 1970s, the scrolls continued to deteriorate because of poor storage arrangements, exposure to different adhesives, and being stored in moist environments.[74] Fragments written on parchment (rather than papyrus or bronze) in the hands of private collectors and scholars suffered an even worse fate than those in the hands of the museum, with large portions of fragments being reported to have disappeared by 1966.[18] In the late 1960s, the deterioration was becoming a major concern with scholars and museum officials alike. ScholarsJohn Allegro and Sir Francis Frank were among the first to strongly advocate for better preservation techniques.[19] Early attempts made by both the British and Israel museums to remove the adhesive tape ended up exposing the parchment to an array of chemicals, including "British Leather Dressing," and darkening some of them significantly.[19] In the 1970s and 1980s, other preservation attempts were made that included removing the glass plates and replacing them with cardboard and removing pressure against the plates that held the scrolls in storage; however, the fragments and scrolls continued to rapidly deteriorate during this time.[74]
In 1991, the IAA established a temperature-controlled laboratory for thestorage and preservation of the scrolls. The actions and preservation methods of Rockefeller Museum staff were concentrated on the removal of tape, oils, metals, salt, and other contaminants.[74] The fragments and scrolls are preserved using acid-free cardboard and stored insolander boxes in the climate-controlled storage area.[74] Nine tinytefellin strips were rediscovered by the IAA in 2014, after they had been stored unopened for six decades following their excavation in 1952.[78][79]
Photography and assembly
Since the Dead Sea Scrolls were initially held by different parties during and after the excavation process, they were not all photographed by the same organization.
First photographs (1948)
The first individual to photograph a portion of the collection was Trever, who was a resident for the American Schools of Oriental Research.[19]: 68 He photographed three of the scrolls discovered in Cave 1 on 21 February 1948, both on black-and-white and color film.[19]: 26 [17]: 396 [80] Although an amateur photographer, the quality of his photographs often exceeded the visibility of the scrolls themselves as, over the years, the ink of the texts quickly deteriorated after they were removed from their linen wrappings.
Infrared photography and plate assembly (1952–1967)
A majority of the collection from the Qumran caves was acquired by the Palestine Archaeological Museum. The museum had the scrolls photographed byNajib Albina, a local Arab photographer trained byLewis Larsson of theAmerican Colony in Jerusalem,[81] Between 1952 and 1967, Albina documented the five-stage process of the sorting and assembly of the scrolls, done by the curator and staff of the Palestine Archaeological Museum, usinginfrared photography. Using a process known today as broadband fluorescence infrared photography, or NIR photography, Najib and the team at the museum produced over 1,750 photographic plates of the scrolls and fragments.[19]: 68 [82][83][84] The photographs were taken with the scrolls laid out on animal skin using large format film, which caused the text to stand out, making the plates especially useful for assembling fragments.[19]: 68 These are the earliest photographs of the museum's collection, which was the most complete in the world at the time, and they recorded the fragments and scrolls before their further decay in storage, so they are often considered the best recorded copies of the scrolls.[85]
Digital infrared imaging (1993–2012)
A previously unreadable fragment of the Dead Sea Scrolls photographed by theJet Propulsion Laboratory using digital infrared technology. Translated into English it reads: "He wrote the words of Noah."
Beginning in 1993, the United StatesNational Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) used digital infrared imaging technology to produce photographs of Dead Sea Scrolls fragments.[86] In partnership with the Ancient Biblical Manuscript Center and West Semitic Research, NASA'sJet Propulsion Laboratory successfully worked to expand on the use of infrared photography previously used to evaluate ancient manuscripts by expanding the range of spectra at which images are photographed.[87]
NASA usedmultispectral imaging adapted from its remote sensing and planetary probes in order to reveal previously illegible text on the fragments.[87] The process uses aliquid crystal tunable filter in order to photograph the scrolls at specific wavelengths of light and, as a result, image distortion is significantly diminished.[86] This method was used with select fragments to reveal text and details a larger light spectrum could not reveal.[86] The camera and digital imaging assembly were developed specifically for the purpose of photographing illegible ancient texts.[88]
On 18 December 2012[89] the first output of this project was launched together with Google on the dedicated siteDeadseascrolls.org.il.[90] The site contains both digitizations of old images taken in the 1950s and about 1,000 images taken with multispectral imaging.[91]
DNA scroll assembly (2006–2020)
Scientists with the IAA have usedDNA from the parchment on which the fragments were written, in concert with infrared digital photography, to assist in the reassembly of the scrolls. For scrolls written on parchment made from animal hide and papyrus, scientists with the museum are using DNA code to associate fragments with different scrolls and to help scholars determine which scrolls may hold greater significance based on the type of material that was used.[70] In a paper published in 2020 in the journalCell, researchers fromTel Aviv University have shown that DNA extracted from the scrolls can be used to sort different scroll fragments not only based on the animal species but also based on variations in the nuclear genome of individual fragments. This effort enabled the researchers to match different fragments to each other based on their genetics and separate fragments which were falsely connected in the past.[92][93]
Digitization project (2011–2016)
In partnership with Google, the Museum of Jerusalem is working to photograph the Dead Sea Scrolls and make them available to the public digitally, albeit not in thepublic domain.[94] The lead photographer of the project, Ardon Bar-Hama, and his team are utilizing theAlpa 12 MAX camera accompanied with aLeaf Aptus-II back to produce ultra-high resolution digital images of the scrolls and fragments.[95] With photos taken at 1,200megapixels, the results are digital images that can be used to distinguish details that are invisible to the naked eye. In order to minimize damage to the scrolls and fragments, photographers are using a 1/4000th of a secondexposure time and UV-protected flash tubes.[94] The digital photography project was estimated in 2011 to cost 3.5 million U.S. dollars.[95]
Proposed older dates
A new study was published in 2025 that uses A.I. and latest radiocarbon dating, as well as the updated handwriting analysis. This study proposes older dates for some of the scrolls. Researchers have developed a new artificial intelligence model called "Enoch". Then some 135 Dead Sea Scroll manuscripts that have not been previously dated were analyzed. The lead author is Mladen Popović from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.[96]
For example, the fragmentary scroll 4Q114 of the Book of Daniel is now dated to between 230 and 160 B.C.E., as much as 60 years earlier than previously thought.[97]
One outcome of this study provides new insights on the dating of the Herodian-type manuscripts that are generally believed to be younger than the Hasmonaean-type manuscripts. Analysis shows that the date range of the Herodian manuscripts is much wider than previously thought; it is proposed that it extends "from the second century CE all the way back to the second century BCE". So these ranges for the two types are now shown to be overlapping with each other to some extent.[96]
Scholarly examination
Eleazar Sukenik examining one of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1951
After most of the scrolls and fragments were moved to the Palestine Archaeological Museum in 1953, scholars began to assemble them and log them for translation and study in a room that became known as the "scrollery".[98]
Scholars assembling Dead Sea Scrolls fragments at the Rockefeller Museum (formerly the Palestine Archaeological Museum)
Some of the fragments and scrolls were published early. Most of the longer, more complete scrolls were published soon after their discovery. All the writings in Cave 1 appeared in print between 1950 and 1956; those from eight other caves were released in 1963; and in 1965 the Psalms Scroll from Cave 11 was published. Their translations into English soon followed.
Publication of the scrolls has taken many decades, and delays have been a source of academic controversy. The scrolls were controlled by a small group of scholars headed by John Strugnell, while a majority of scholars had access neither to the scrolls nor even to photographs of the text. Scholars such as Norman Golb, publishers and writers such asHershel Shanks, and many others argued for decades for publishing the texts, so that they become available to researchers. This controversy only ended in 1991, when theBiblical Archaeology Society was able to publish the "Facsimile Edition of the Dead Sea Scrolls", after an intervention of the Israeli government and the IAA.[106] In 1991Emanuel Tov was appointed as the chairman of the Dead Sea Scrolls Foundation, and publication of the scrolls followed in the same year.
The majority of the scrolls consist of tiny, brittle fragments, which were published at a pace considered by many to be excessively slow. During early assembly and translation work by scholars through the Rockefeller Museum from the 1950s through the 1960s, access to the unpublished documents was limited to the editorial committee.[citation needed]
Discoveries in the Judaean Desert (1955–2009)
The content of the scrolls was published in a 40-volume series byOxford University Press between 1955 and 2009 known asDiscoveries in the Judaean Desert.[107] In 1952 the Jordanian Department of Antiquities assembled a team of scholars to begin examining, assembling, and translating the scrolls with the intent of publishing them.[108] The initial publication, assembled byDominique Barthélemy and Józef Milik, was published asQumran Cave 1 in 1955.[107] After a series of other publications in the late 1980s and early 1990s and with the appointment of the respected Dutch-Israeli textual scholar Emanuel Tov as editor-in-chief of the Dead Sea Scrolls Publication Project in 1990 publication of the scrolls accelerated. Tov's team had published five volumes covering the Cave 4 documents by 1995. Between 1990 and 2009, Tov helped the team produce 32 volumes. The final volume, Volume XL, was published in 2009.
A Preliminary Edition of the Unpublished Dead Sea Scrolls (1991)
In 1991, researchers atHebrew Union College inCincinnati, Ohio, Ben Zion Wacholder andMartin Abegg, announced the creation of a computer program that used previously published scrolls to reconstruct the unpublished texts.[109] Officials at theHuntington Library inSan Marino, California, led by head librarianWilliam Andrew Moffett, announced that they would allow researchers unrestricted access to the library's complete set of photographs of the scrolls. In the fall of that year, Wacholder published 17 documents that had been reconstructed in 1988 from aconcordance and had come into the hands of scholars outside of the international team; in the same month, there occurred the discovery and publication of a complete set of facsimiles of the Cave 4 materials at the Huntington Library. Thereafter, the officials of the IAA agreed to lift their long-standing restrictions on the use of the scrolls.[110]
A Facsimile Edition of the Dead Sea Scrolls (1991)
After further delays, attorneyWilliam John Cox undertook representation of an "undisclosed client", who had provided a complete set of the unpublished photographs, and contracted for their publication. Professors Robert Eisenman andJames Robinson indexed the photographs and wrote an introduction toA Facsimile Edition of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which was published by the Biblical Archaeology Society in 1991.[111] Following the publication of theFacsimile Edition, ProfessorElisha Qimron sued Hershel Shanks, Eisenman, Robinson and the Biblical Archaeology Society for copyright infringement for publishing without authorization or attribution his decipherment of one of the scrolls, MMT. The District Court of Jerusalem found in favour of Qimron.[112] The court issued a restraining order which prohibited the publication of the deciphered text, and ordered defendants to pay Qimron NIS 100,000 for infringing his copyright and the right of attribution. Defendants appealed theSupreme Court of Israel which approved the district court's decision. The Supreme Court further ordered that the defendants hand over to Qimron all the infringing copies.[113] The decision met Israeli and international criticism from copyright law scholars.[114][115][116][117][118]
The Facsimile Edition (2007–2008)
In November 2007 the Dead Sea Scrolls Foundation commissioned the London publisher Facsimile Editions Limited to produce a facsimile edition of The Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsa), The Order of the Community (1QS), and The Pesher to Habakkuk (1QpHab).[119][120] The facsimile was produced from 1948 photographs and so more faithfully represents the condition of the Isaiah Scroll at the time of its discovery than does the current condition of the Isaiah Scroll.[119]
Of the first three facsimile sets, one was exhibited at theEarly Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition in Seoul, South Korea, and a second set was purchased by the British Library in London. A further 46 sets including facsimiles of three fragments from Cave 4 (now in the collection of the National Archaeological Museum in Amman, Jordan) Testimonia (4Q175), Pesher Isaiahb (4Q162) and Qohelet (4Q109) were announced in May 2009. The edition is strictly limited to 49 numbered sets of these reproductions on either specially prepared parchment paper or real parchment.[119] The facsimiles have since been exhibited inQumrân. Le secret des manuscrits de la mer Morte at theBibliothèque Nationale, Paris, France (2010)[121] andVerbum Domini at theVatican, Rome, Italy (2012).[122]
Digital publication
The text of nearly all of the non-biblical scrolls has been recorded and tagged formorphology by Martin Abegg, Jr., the Ben Zion Wacholder Professor of Dead Sea Scroll Studies atTrinity Western University located in Langley, British Columbia, Canada.[123] It is available on handheld devices throughOlive Tree Bible Software andLogos Bible Software.
The text of almost all of the non-biblical texts was released on CD-ROM by publisher E.J. Brill in 2005.[124] The 2,400 page, six-volume series, was assembled by an editorial team led byDonald W. Parry and Emanuel Tov.[125] Unlike the text translations in the physical publication,Discoveries in the Judaean Desert, the texts are sorted by genres that include religious law, parabiblical texts, calendrical and sapiental texts, and poetic and liturgical works.[124]
On 25 September 2011 theIsrael Museum Digital Dead Sea Scrolls site went online.[126][127] It gives users access to searchable, high-resolution images of the scrolls, as well as short explanatory videos and background information on the texts and their history. As of May 2012[update], five complete scrolls from the Israel Museum have been digitized for the project and are accessible online: the Great Isaiah Scroll, the Community Rule Scroll, the Commentary on Habakkuk Scroll, the Temple Scroll, and the War Scroll.
Before the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the oldest Hebrew-language manuscripts of the Bible wereMasoretic texts dating to the 10th century CE, such as theAleppo Codex.[128] Today, the oldest known extant manuscripts of the Masoretic Text date from approximately the 9th century. The biblical manuscripts found among the Dead Sea Scrolls push that date back more than a millennium to the 2nd century BCE.[129] This was a significant discovery for Old Testament scholars who anticipated that the Dead Sea Scrolls would either affirm or repudiate the reliability of textual transmission from the original texts to the oldest Masoretic texts at hand. The discovery demonstrated the unusual accuracy of transmission over a thousand-year period, rendering it reasonable to believe that current Old Testament texts are reliable copies of the original works.
According toThe Dead Sea Scrolls by Hebrew scholar Millar Burrows
Of the 166words in Isaiah 53, there are only seventeenletters in question. Ten of these letters are simply a matter of spelling, which does not affect the sense. Four more letters are minor stylistic changes, such as conjunctions. The remaining three letters comprise the word "light," which is added in verse 11, and does not affect the meaning greatly.[130]
Differences were found among fragments of texts. According toThe Oxford Companion to Archaeology:
While some of the Qumran biblical manuscripts are nearly identical to the Masoretic, or traditional, Hebrew text of the Old Testament, some manuscripts of the books of Exodus and Samuel found in Cave Four exhibit dramatic differences in both language and content. In their astonishing range of textual variants, the Qumran biblical discoveries have prompted scholars to reconsider the once-accepted theories of the development of the modern biblical text from only three manuscript families: of the Masoretic text, of the Hebrew original of theSeptuagint, and of theSamaritan Pentateuch. It is now becoming increasingly clear that the Old Testament scripture was extremely fluid untilits canonization around A.D. 100.[131]
The majority of the texts found is non-biblical in nature and were thought to be insignificant for understanding the composition or canonization of the biblical books, but a consensus has emerged which sees many of these works as being collected by the Essene community instead of being composed by them.[132] Scholars now recognize that some of these works were composed earlier than the Essene period, when some of the biblical books were still being written or redacted into their final form.[132]
Listed below are the most represented books, along with the deuterocanonicals, of the Bible found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, including the number of translatable Dead Sea texts that represent a copy of scripture from each biblical book:[135][136]
Visitors examining Dead Sea Scrolls displayed at theShrine of the Book in JerusalemStrip of the Copper Scroll from Qumran Cave 3 written in the Hebrew Mishnaic dialect, on display at the Jordan Museum, Amman
Small portions of the Dead Sea Scrolls collections have been put on temporary display in exhibitions at museums and public venues around the world. The majority of these exhibitions took place in 1965 in the United States and the United Kingdom and from 1993 to 2011 in locations around the world. Many of the exhibitions were co-sponsored by either the Jordanian government (pre-1967) or the Israeli government (post-1967). Exhibitions were discontinued after 1965 due to theSix-Day War conflicts and have slowed down in post-2011 as the IAA works to digitize the scrolls and place them in permanent cold storage.
The majority of the Dead Sea Scrolls collection was moved to Jerusalem'sShrine of the Book (a part of the Israel Museum) after the building's completion in April 1965.[140] The museum falls under the auspices of the IAA. The permanent exhibition at the museum features a reproduction of the Great Isaiah Scroll, surrounded by reproductions of other fragments that include Community Rule, the War Scroll, and the Thanksgiving Psalms Scroll.[141][142]
Some of the collection held by the Jordanian government prior to 1967 was stored in Amman rather than at thePalestine Archaeological Museum in East Jerusalem. As a consequence, that part of the collection remained in Jordanian hands under their Department of Antiquities. Since 2013, the part of the collection held by Jordan has been on display atThe Jordan Museum in Amman.[143] Among the display items are artefacts from the Qumran site and the Copper Scroll.[144]
Ownership
Advertisement inThe Wall Street Journal dated 1 June 1954 for four of the "Dead Sea Scrolls"
Upon their discovery in 1947 in what was thenMandatory Palestine, the Dead Sea Scrolls were first moved to the Palestine Archaeological Museum. Following theJordanian annexation of the West Bank (includingEast Jerusalem) in the aftermath of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the museum's management become the responsibility of Jordan.
Following the1967 Arab–Israeli War, Jordan was defeated and Israel began tooccupy the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The Palestine Archeological Museum (renamed the Rockefeller Archeological Museum) fell under Israeli administration, and the Dead Sea Scrolls collection held there was moved to the Shrine of the Book.[140] Israel claims ownership of the Dead Sea Scrolls collection currently housed at the Israel Museum. This claimed ownership is contested by both Jordan and thePalestinian Authority.[145]
Parties involved
Party role
Explanation of role
Jordan
Disputant; minority owner
Alleges that the Dead Sea Scrolls were stolen from the Palestine Archaeological Museum (now the Rockefeller Museum) operated by Jordan from 1966 until the Six-Day War when advancing Israeli forces took control of the museum, and that therefore they fall under the rules of the 1954Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict.[146] Jordan regularly demands their return and petitions third-party countries that host the scrolls to return them to Jordan instead of to Israel, claiming they have legal documents that prove Jordanian ownership of the scrolls.[147]
Israel
Disputant; current majority holder
After the Six-Day War Israel seized the scrolls and moved them to the Shrine of the Book in the Israel Museum. Israel disputes Jordan's claim and states that Jordan never lawfully possessed the scrolls since it was an unlawful occupier of the museum and region.[148][149][150]
Palestine
Disputant
The Palestinian Authority also claims ownership of the scrolls.[151]
Forgeries and claimed private ownership
Arrangements with the Bedouins left the scrolls in the hands of a third party until a profitable sale of them could be negotiated. That third party, George Isha'ya, was a member of theSyriac Orthodox Church, who soon contactedSt Mark's Monastery in the hope of getting an appraisal of the nature of the texts. News of the find then reachedMetropolitan Athanasius Yeshue Samuel, better known as Mar Samuel. After examining the scrolls and suspecting their antiquity, Mar Samuel expressed an interest in purchasing them. Four scrolls found their way into his hands: the Isaiah Scroll (1QIsaa), the Community Rule, the Habakkuk Pesher (a commentary on thebook of Habakkuk), and the Genesis Apocryphon. More scrolls soon surfaced in the antiquities market, and ProfessorEleazer Sukenik and ProfessorBenjamin Mazar, archaeologists at Hebrew University, soon found themselves in possession of three, The War Scroll, Thanksgiving Hymns, and another, more fragmented, Isaiah Scroll (1QIsab).
Four of the Dead Sea Scrolls eventually went up for sale in an advertisement on 1 June 1954,The Wall Street Journal.[152] On 1 July 1954, the scrolls, after delicate negotiations and accompanied by three people including Mar Samuel, arrived at theWaldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York. They were purchased by Professor Mazar and the son of Professor Sukenik, Yigael Yadin, for $250,000 (approximately $2,900,000 in 2024 dollars[153]), and brought to Jerusalem.[154]
Since 2002, many forgeries of Dead Sea Scrolls have appeared on black markets.[155] In 2020, theMuseum of the Bible in the United States (also known asGreen Collection) reported that all 16 purported "Dead Sea Scroll fragments" they had acquired between 2009 and 2014[156][157] were in fact modern forgeries.[158][159]
List of claimed private ownerships of Dead Sea Scroll fragments
This sectionneeds attention from an expert in law. The specific problem is:Complexity of copyright law surrounding historical documents in the United States and other nations.WikiProject Law may be able to help recruit an expert.(June 2012)
There are three types of documents relating to the Dead Sea Scrolls in which copyright status can be considered ambiguous; the documents themselves, images taken of the documents, and reproductions of the documents. This ambiguity arises from differences incopyright law across different countries and the variable interpretation of such law.
In 1992 a copyright caseQimron v. Shanks was brought before the Israeli District court by scholar Elisha Qimron against Hershel Shanks of the Biblical Archaeology Society for violations of United States copyright law regarding his publishing of reconstructions of Dead Sea Scroll texts done by Qimron inA Facsimile Edition of the Dead Sea Scrolls which were included without his permission. Qimron's suit against the Biblical Archaeology Society was done on the grounds that the research they had published was his intellectual property as he had reconstructed about 40% of the published text. In 1993, the district court JudgeDalia Dorner ruled for the plaintiff, Elisha Qimron, in context of both United States and Israeli copyright law and granted the highest compensation allowed by law for aggravation in compensation against Hershel Shanks and others.[167] In an appeal in 2000 in front of JudgeAharon Barak, the verdict was upheld inIsraeli Supreme Court in Qimron's favour.[168] The court case established the two main principles from which facsimiles are examined under copyright law of the United States and Israel: authorship and originality.
The court's ruling not only affirms that the "deciphered text" of the scrolls can fall under copyright of individuals or groups, but makes it clear that the Dead Sea Scrolls themselves do not fall under this copyright law and scholars have a degree of, in the words of U.S. copyright law professorDavid Nimmer, "freedom" in access. Nimmer has shown how this freedom was in the theory of law applicable, but how it did not exist in reality as the IAA tightly controlled access to the scrolls and photographs of the scrolls.[167]
^10 Scrolls containing fragments of all 12 of the "Minor Prophets" were found in Cave 4, although no fragment contains portions of more than three prophets.[137]
^There are four Aramaic fragmentary texts of Tobit, and one Hebrew text.[138]
^Duhaime, Bernard; Labadie, Camille (2020). "Intersections and Cultural Exchange: Archaeology, Culture, International Law and the Legal Travels of the Dead Sea Scrolls".Canada's Public Diplomacy. Palgrave Macmillan Series in Global Public Diplomacy. Cham: Springer International Publishing. p. 146.doi:10.1007/978-3-319-62015-2_6.ISBN978-3-319-62014-5.ISSN2731-3883.S2CID236757632.Thus, the Palestinian Authority and Jordan base their claims on territorial aspects (places of discovery of the scrolls), humanitarian (illegal deprivation following the occupation of East Jerusalem by Israel) and legal (they claim to have proof of purchase of several scrolls) while, for its part, Israel's claims are primarily based in religious notions, invoking the sacred history of the Jewish people and recalling that the scrolls discovered in Qumran are, for the majority, the oldest known copies of biblical texts and are therefore of fundamental importance for the historical and religious heritage of Judaism.
^Martinez/Tigchelaar (1999).The Dead Sea Scrolls Edition, Caves 1 to 11 & more (Enoch Aramaic fragments and translation by Milik: Hénoc au pays des aromates, pp. 413, 425, 430)
^Milik (1957). "Dix ans de découverte dans le désert de Juda" |Discoveries in the Judaean Desert; Milik (1976).The Books of Enoch: Aramaic Fragments Qumran Cave 4 with the collaboration of Black M.
^Baillet, Maurice ed. Les 'Petites Grottes' de Qumrân (ed., vol. 3 of Discoveries in the Judaean Desert; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1962), 144–145, pl. XXX.
^Muro, Ernest A., "The Greek Fragments of Enoch from Qumran Cave 7 (7Q4, 7Q8, &7Q12 = 7QEn gr = Enoch 103:3–4, 7–8),"Revue de Qumran 18 no. 70 (1997).
^Puech, Émile, "Sept fragments grecs de la Lettre d'Hénoch (1 Hén 100, 103, 105) dans la grotte 7 de Qumrân (= 7QHén gr),"Revue de Qumran 18 no. 70 (1997).
^abHumbert and Chambon,Excavations of Khirbet Qumran and Ain Feshkha, 67.
^abMartinez, Florentino Garcia; Tigchelaar, Eibert J.C. (1995).The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition. Vol. 1. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans.ISBN978-0-8028-4493-4.
^Baillet ed. Les 'Petites Grottes' de Qumrân (ed.), 147–162, pl. XXXIXXXV.
^Stegemann, Hartmut. "The Qumran Essenes: Local Members of the Main Jewish Union in Late Second Temple Times." pp. 83–166 inThe Madrid Qumran Congress: Proceedings of the International Congress on the Dead Sea Scrolls, Madrid, 18–21 March 1991, Edited by J. Trebolle Barrera and L. Vegas Montaner. Vol. 11 of Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah. Leiden: Brill, 1992.[ISBN missing]
^de Vaux, Roland,Archaeology and the Dead Sea Scrolls (Schweich Lectures of the British Academy, 1959). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1973.
^Milik, Józef Tadeusz,Ten Years of Discovery in the Wilderness of Judea, London: SCM, 1959.[ISBN missing]
^For Sowmy, see: Trever, John C.,The Untold Story of Qumran, (Westwood: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1965), p. 25.[ISBN missing]
^Schiffman, Lawrence H.,Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls: their True Meaning for Judaism and Christianity, Anchor Bible Reference Library (Doubleday) 1995.
^O'Callaghan–Martínez, Josep,Cartas Cristianas Griegas del Siglo V, Barcelona: E. Balmes, 1963.[ISBN missing][page needed]
^Eisenman, Robert H. James,the Brother of Jesus: The Key to Unlocking the Secrets of Early Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls. 1st American ed. New York: Viking, 1997.[ISBN missing][page needed]
^Israel Antiquities Authority Personnel Records. Dated 1952 and 1960.
^Verhoeven, G. (2008). "Imaging the invisible using modified digital still cameras for straightforward and low-cost archaeological near-infrared photography".Journal of Archaeological Science.35 (12):3087–3100.Bibcode:2008JArSc..35.3087V.doi:10.1016/j.jas.2008.06.012.
^Dorrell, Peter G.Photography in Archaeology and Conservation 2nd Edition. 1994.
^American Schools of Oriental Research.The Biblical Archaeologist. Volumes 55–56. 1992.
^Shanks, Hershel.Freeing the Dead Sea Scrolls: And Other Adventures of an Archaeology Outsider (2010).
^Reeves, John C. and Kampen, John.Pursuing the Text. pp. 111–112. 1994.
^abcGlob, Norman.Who Wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls. 2012.
^abSchiffman, Lawrence H. et al. "The Dead Sea scrolls: fifty years after their discovery: proceedings of the Jerusalem Congress, July 20–25, 1997." 1997.
^"Dead Sea Scrolls".Encyclopædia Britannica.Archived from the original on 12 April 2009. Retrieved26 June 2009.
^Eisenman, Robert H. and James Robinson,A Facsimile Edition of the Dead Sea Scrolls in two volumes (Biblical Archaeology Society of Washington, DC, 1991).
^Civil Case (Jer) 41/92 Qimron v. Shanks et al. (30 March 1993) [Hebrew].
^Birnhack, Michael D. (30 May 2006),The Dead Sea Scrolls Case: Who Is an Author?, 23 (3) EIPR 128 (2001),SSRN905114
^Roberta Rosenthal Kwall, "Inspiration and Innovation: The Intrinsic Dimension of the Artistic Soul" 81Notre Dame L. Rev.. 1945 (2006)
^David Nimmer, Authorship and Originality, 38 Houston L. Rev. 1, 159 (2001)
^Urszula Tempska, "Originality after the Dead Sea Scrolls Decision: Implications for the American Law of Copyright", 6 Marq. Intell. Prop. L. Rev. 119 (2002).
^Timothy H. Lim, "Intellectual Property and the Dead Sea Scrolls",Dead Sea Discoveries Vol 9, No. 2 (2002) p. 187.
^E. Tov, "Joshua, Book of," inEncyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls (eds. L.H. Schiffman and J.C. VanderKam; 2 vols.; New York: Oxford University Press, 2000) 1: 431.[ISBN missing]
Berg, Simon (2009).Insights into the Dead Sea Scrolls: A Beginner's Guide. Charleston: BookSurge Publishing.ISBN978-1-5466-3831-5.
Boccaccini, Gabriele (1998).Beyond the Essene Hypothesis: The Parting of Ways between Qumran and Enochic Judaism. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.ISBN978-0-8028-4360-9.
Burrows, Millar (1958).More Light on the Dead Sea Scrolls: New Scrolls and New Interpretations, with Translations of Important Recent Discoveries. New York: Viking.ISBN978-0-670-48916-9.{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
Charlesworth, James H. (1995). "The Theologies of the Dead Sea Scrolls". In Ringgren, H. (ed.).The Faith of Qumran: Theology of the Dead Sea Scrolls. New York: Crossroad. pp. xv–xxi.ISBN978-0-8245-1258-3.
de Vaux, Roland,Archaeology and the Dead Sea Scrolls (Schweich Lectures of the British Academy, 1959). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1973.[ISBN missing]
Dimant, Devorah, andUriel Rappaport (eds.),The Dead Sea Scrolls: Forty Years of Research, Leiden and Jerusalem: E.J. Brill, Magnes Press, Yad Izhak Ben-Zvi, 1992.
Eisenman, Robert H.,The Dead Sea Scrolls and the First Christians, Shaftesbury: Element, 1996.
Eisenman, Robert H.; O. Wise, Michael (1993).The Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered: The First Complete Translation and Interpretation of 50 Key Documents Withheld for Over 35 Years. Shaftesbury: Element.ISBN978-0-14-023250-9.1992.
Eisenman, Robert H. and James Robinson,A Facsimile Edition of the Dead Sea Scrolls 2 vol., Washington, D.C.: Biblical Archaeology Society, 1991.
Fitzmyer, Joseph A.,Responses to 101 Questions on the Dead Sea Scrolls, Paulist Press 1992,ISBN0809133482
Galor, Katharina, Jean-Baptiste Humbert, and Jürgen Zangenberg.Qumran: The Site of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Archaeological Interpretations and Debates: Proceedings of a Conference held at Brown University, 17–19 November 2002, Edited by Florentino García Martínez, Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah 57. Leiden: Brill, 2006.
García-Martinez, Florentino,The Dead Sea Scrolls Translated: The Qumran Texts in English, (Translated from Spanish into English by Wilfred G. E. Watson) (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1994).
Heline, Theodore,Dead Sea Scrolls, New Age Bible & Philosophy Center, 1957, Reprint edition 1987,ISBN0933963165
Hirschfeld, Yizhar, Qumran in Context: Reassessing the Archaeological Evidence, Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 2004.
Israeli, Raphael,Routledge Piracy in Qumran: The Battle over the Scrolls of the Pre-Christ Era], Transaction Publishers: 2008ISBN978-1412807036
Khabbaz, C., "Les manuscrits de la mer Morte et le secret de leurs auteurs", Beirut, 2006. (Ce livre identifie les auteurs des fameux manuscrits de la mer Morte et dévoile leur secret).
Magen, Yizhak, and Yuval Peleg,The Qumran Excavations 1993–2004: Preliminary Report, JSP 6 (Jerusalem: Israel Antiquities Authority, 2007)DownloadArchived 28 November 2007 at theWayback Machine
Magen, Yizhak, and Yuval Peleg, "Back to Qumran: Ten years of Excavations and Research, 1993–2004," in The Site of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Archaeological Interpretations and Debates (Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah 57), Brill, 2006 (pp. 55–116).
Magness, Jodi,The Archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002.
Milik, Józef Tadeusz,Ten Years of Discovery in the Wilderness of Judea, London: SCM, 1959.
Muro, E. A., "The Greek Fragments of Enoch from Qumran Cave 7 (7Q4, 7Q8, &7Q12 = 7QEn gr = Enoch 103:3–4, 7–8)."Revue de Qumran 18, no. 70 (1997): 307, 12, pl. 1.
O'Callaghan-Martínez, Josep,Cartas Cristianas Griegas del Siglo V, Barcelona: E. Balmes, 1963.
Qimron, Elisha,The Hebrew of the Dead Sea Scrolls, Harvard Semitic Studies, 1986. (This is aserious discussion of the Hebrew language of the scrolls.)
Rengstorf, Karl Heinrich,Hirbet Qumran und die Bibliothek vom Toten Meer, Translated by J.R. Wilkie. Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer, 1960.
Roitman, Adolfo, ed. A Day at Qumran: The Dead Sea Sect and Its Scrolls. Jerusalem: The Israel Museum, 1998.
Sanders, James A., ed.Dead Sea scrolls: The Psalms scroll of Qumrân Cave 11 (11QPsa), (1965) Oxford, Clarendon Press.
Schiffman, Lawrence H.,Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls: their True Meaning for Judaism and Christianity, Anchor Bible Reference Library (Doubleday) 1995,ISBN0385481217, (Schiffman has suggested two plausible theories of origin and identity – a Sadducean splinter group, or perhaps an Essene group with Sadducean roots.) Excerpts of this book can be read atCOJS: Dead Sea Scrolls.
Schiffman, Lawrence H., and James C. VanderKam, eds.Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls. 2 vols. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Shanks, Hershel,The Mystery and Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls, Vintage Press 1999,ISBN0679780890 (recommended introduction to their discovery and history of their scholarship)
Stegemann, Hartmut. "The Qumran Essenes: Local Members of the Main Jewish Union in Late Second Temple Times." pp. 83–166 inThe Madrid Qumran Congress: Proceedings of the International Congress on the Dead Sea Scrolls, Madrid, 18–21 March 1991, Edited by J. Trebolle Barrera and L. Vegas Mountainer. Vol. 11 of Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah. Leiden: Brill, 1992.
Thiede, Carsten Peter (2000).The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Jewish Origins of Christianity. London: Palgrave Macmillan.ISBN0-312-29361-5.
Thiering, Barbara,Jesus and the Riddle of the Dead Sea Scrolls (ISBN0060677821), New York: HarperCollins, 1992
Yadin, Yigael (1985).The Temple Scroll: The Hidden Law of the Dead Sea Sect. New York: Random House.
Other sources
Dead Sea Scrolls Study Vol 1: 1Q1 – 4Q273, Vol. 2: 4Q274 – 11Q31, (compact disc), Logos Research Systems, Inc., (contains the non-biblical portion of the scrolls with Hebrew and Aramaic transcriptions in parallel with English translations)
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