The surprising discovery represents a milestone in Dead Sea Scroll research and opens a door to further understand the religious manuscripts
Dead Sea scrolls are ancient manuscripts that remained hidden in the caves along the northwest shore of Dead Sea for centuries until some of those were discovered by a goat herder in 1947. Since then, around 800 documents in the form of tens of thousands of fragments have been found in 11 caves near the site of Qumran in the West Bank.
Now, researchers have found another Dead Sea Scrolls cave, full of jar fragments and other antiquities, making it the first new scrolls cave discovery over 60 years.
“Until now, it was accepted that Dead Sea scrolls were found only in 11 caves at Qumran, but now there is no doubt that this is the 12th cave.” Dr. Oren Gutfeld, an archaeologist at the Hebrew University’s Institute of Archaeology and director of the excavation, said in a statement.
Inside the cave, researchers have found many Second Temple period jars that are all broken and empty but at one time they contained Dead Sea scrolls. The evidences found in the cave imply the presence of religious manuscripts in the cave which were possibly stolen by nomadic in the middle of the last century.
The cave was looted before the archeologists excavated the site and discovered this previously unknown natural chamber.
“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,” said Dr. Gutfeld.
Read the full article by Timothy Smith at The Marshalltown.