The Dead Sea Scrolls were unearthed in the 1940s in caves near the ancient settlement of Qumran in Israel. The hundreds of scrolls found there were written in Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic, and contain some of the oldest written Biblical text. (Image credit: Menahem Kahana/AFP via Getty Images)
The site of Khirbet Qumran (a modern Arabic name) is located in the West Bank, near the northern edge of the Dead Sea, and is where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in 11 nearby caves nearly 80 years ago. Though it has been decades since any scrolls were discovered, researchers announced in February 2017 that they had found a 12th cave near Qumran.
The first settlement was created during the Iron Age, but was abandoned about 2,600 years ago, long before the scrolls were made.
Archaeological work indicates that a second settlement existed between roughly 100 B.C. and A.D. 68, when it was captured by the Roman army and destroyed in a fire. The heat was so intense that modern-day archaeologists have found glass vessels “melted down” by it. It is in this settlement that many scholars believe at least some of the Dead Sea Scrolls were written before being hidden away.
How and when were the Dead Sea Scrolls found?
In 1949, a joint expedition excavated the cave Muhammed found, called cave no. 1. Over the next decade, local Bedouin and scientific researchers would discover the remains of more than 900 manuscripts in 11 caves. Each cave is located near Qumran, the farthest one being just over 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) to the north of the site. The newly discovered 12th cave contained a blank scroll along with the remains of jars, cloth and a leather strap. The researchers said they believe these items were used to bind, wrap and hold the scrolls.
Recent analysis of textiles found with the scrolls shows that the textiles were originally used as clothing. They are all made of linen (even though wool was the more popular garment at the time), with most of them undecorated. The researchers argue that according to historical accounts these textiles are similar to those worn by people belonging to an ancient sect called the Essenes.
What’s written in the Dead Sea Scrolls?
How old are the Dead Sea Scrolls?
What was Qumran used for?
In an interview with the website Heritage Key, Peleg stressed that this outpost was a modest structure. “It’s a small site with small units. All its purpose was to see that no enemy army was coming to the Dead Sea shores, climbing the cliffs towards Jerusalem.”
In 63 B.C., the Romans took control of the Hasmonean Kingdom, and archaeological work indicates that Qumran transitioned to civilian use. Magen and Peleg wrote that around this time the site’s water supply was “tripled” with the construction of an aqueduct and additional pools. Altogether, Qumran had eight stepped pools that some researchers believe to be ritual baths known as “mikveh.”
Why the water supply was increased is a matter of debate. A priest named Roland de Vaux, who excavated at Qumran decades ago and first noted the stepped water pools, argued that the site’s population was increasing and the water system expansion was needed for drinking and baths.
Magen and Peleg argue that this is unlikely. Their excavations show that residential space at Qumran did not increase and that only two or three of the stepped pools were ritually suited to be used as mikveh. The researchers argue that pottery production was the reason for Qumran’s water system expansion. They point out that “tens of thousands of pottery fragments” were found at Qumran and their excavations reveal that at least one large pool had a thick layer of potter’s clay.
The people at Qumran apparently engaged in writing. De Vaux’s excavations revealed a room that he called the “scriptorium,” which had two inkwells along with plastered benches or tables. It could have been used for writing scrolls and/or business records, depending on how the site is interpreted.
The Caves and Monastery of the Dead Sea Scrolls are now a World Heritage site recognized by UNESCO.
Who is buried at Qumran?
So far, 46 tombs have been excavated and published, Schultz said, out of which 32 can be dated to the time of Qumran, most of them adult men. The complete lack of children and the presence of (at most) only five women suggest that a monastic group composed mainly of men lived at Qumran, he noted.
Why are the Dead Sea Scrolls in Qumran?
He argues that multiple groups (including people from Qumran) could have been putting scrolls into the caves. This theory helps explain why the caves held scrolls written in three languages and why the copper scroll (discussing treasure) may date to after Qumran’s destruction.
Who wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls?
By giving AI the handwriting samples matched with the new radiocarbon dates, the researchers were able to use Enoch to analyze handwriting on other scrolls and date them, they reported in a 2025 study in the journal PLOS One.
However, scholars cautioned that AI should be only one of many techniques used to study the Dead Sea Scrolls. “After all, human handwriting, and all of its variations and idiosyncratic features, is a deeply human thing,” Christopher Rollston, a professor and chair of biblical and Near Eastern languages and civilizations at The George Washington University who was not involved with the research, previously told Live Science in an email. “Machines can be helpful in isolating features of a script, but the presence of a gifted palaeographer is at least as valuable as a machine-learning tool.”
