Editing Dead Sea Scrolls (section)

==Discovery==
[[File:Kumeran4.jpg|thumb|Caves at Qumran]]
[[File:Qumran.jpeg|thumb|right|Qumran 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 as [[Ein Feshkha]] near the [[Dead Sea]] in the [[West Bank]] (then [[Jordanian annexation of the West Bank|controlled by Jordan]]) between 1946 and 1956 by [[Bedouin]] shepherds and a team of archaeologists.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://virtualreligion.net/iho/dss.html#ASOR|title=Dead Sea Scrolls|publisher=virtualreligion.net|access-date=25 January 2005|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050205180008/http://virtualreligion.net/iho/dss.html#ASOR|archive-date=5 February 2005|url-status=live}}</ref> 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 of [[genizah]].

===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.<ref>Humphries, Mark. ''[http://dl4a.org/uploads/pdf/Early%20Christianity.pdf Early Christianity] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190214110659/http://dl4a.org/uploads/pdf/Early%20Christianity.pdf |date=14 February 2019}}''. 2006.</ref><ref name="Evans-Guide">{{Cite book | first=Craig A. | last=Evans | title=Holman's Guide to the Dead Sea Scrolls | year=2010 | publisher=Holmans | location=Nashville | isbn=978-0-8054-4852-8}}</ref> The shepherds discovered seven scrolls {{crossreference|(see {{slink||Caves and their contents}})}} housed in jars in a cave near what is now known as the [[Qumran]] 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 the [[Isaiah Scroll]], [[Habakkuk Commentary]], and the [[Community Rule]], and took them back to the camp to show to his family. None of the scrolls were destroyed in this process.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{Cite book | last=Trever | first=John C. | title=The Dead Sea Scrolls: A Personal Account | year=2003 | publisher=Gorgias Press LLC | location=Piscataway | isbn=978-1593330422}}</ref> 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 in [[Bethlehem]]. '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 seven [[Palestine pound|Jordanian pounds]] (approximately $28, or ${{inflation|US|28|1947}} in {{Inflation-year|US}} dollars).{{r|ReferenceA}}<ref name="VanderKamFlint2005">{{cite book|first1=James|last1=VanderKam|first2=Peter|last2=Flint|title=The Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Their Significance For Understanding the Bible, Judaism, Jesus, and Christianity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SBMXnB4CRpUC|access-date=15 March 2013|year=2005|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=978-0567084682|page=5|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131009053317/http://books.google.com/books?id=SBMXnB4CRpUC|archive-date=9 October 2013|url-status=live}}</ref> 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. {{See below|[[#Ownership|Ownership]].}}

In 1947 the original seven scrolls caught the attention of Trever of the [[American Schools of Oriental Research]] (ASOR), who compared the script in the scrolls to the [[Nash Papyrus]], the oldest biblical manuscript then known, and found similarities between them. In March the [[1948 Arab–Israeli War]] prompted the move of some of the scrolls to [[Beirut]], 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 bishop [[Mar Samuel]] brought some additional scroll fragments that he had acquired to professor [[Ovid 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 the [[Syrian people|Syrians]] 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 the [[Arab 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 Belgian [[United Nations]] [[United Nations Truce Supervision Organization|observer]] captain Phillipe Lippens and Arab Legion captain Akkash el-Zebn.<ref name="biblicaltheology.com"/>

===Qumran caves rediscovery and new scroll discoveries (1949–1951)===
[[File:Jericho and Dead Sea area and River Jordan. Qumran, caves where Dead Sea scrolls were found. Dead Sea in distance LOC matpc.22897 (cropped and level adjusted).jpg|thumb|right|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 Jordanian [[Department of Antiquities (Jordan)|Department of Antiquities]], led by [[Gerald Lankester Harding]] and [[Roland de Vaux]].{{r|Vanderkam}}{{rp|9}} The Cave 1 site yielded discoveries of additional Dead Sea Scroll fragments, linen cloth, jars, and other artefacts.<ref name="biblicaltheology.com">{{cite web |author=S.S.L. Frantisek Trstensky |url=http://www.biblicaltheology.com/Research/TrstenskyF01.pdf |title=The Archaeological Site of Qumran and the Personality of Roland De Vaux |access-date=22 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130326092939/http://biblicaltheology.com/Research/TrstenskyF01.pdf |archive-date=26 March 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===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.<ref name="gnosis.org">{{cite web |url=http://www.gnosis.org/library/dss/dss_timeline.htm |title=Dead Sea Scrolls: Timetable |publisher=The Gnostic Society Library |access-date=23 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030816214926/http://www.gnosis.org/library/dss/dss_timeline.htm |archive-date=16 August 2003 |url-status=dead }}</ref> By February 1952, the Bedouins had discovered 30 fragments in what was to be designated Cave 2.<ref name="Vanderkam">{{Cite book | last=VanderKam | first=James C. | title=The Dead Sea Scrolls Today | pages=10–11 | year=1994 | publisher=Eerdmans | location=Grand Rapids | isbn=978-0802807366}}</ref> The discovery of a second cave eventually yielded 300 fragments from 33 manuscripts, including fragments of [[Book of Jubilees|Jubilees]] and the [[Wisdom of Sirach]] written in Hebrew.{{r|biblicaltheology.com|gnosis.org}} The following month, on 14 March 1952, the ASOR team discovered a third cave with fragments of Jubilees and the [[Copper Scroll]].{{r|Vanderkam}} Between September and December 1952, the fragments and scrolls of Caves 4, 5, and 6 were discovered by the ASOR teams.{{r|gnosis.org}}

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.{{r|biblicaltheology.com}} Cave 11 was discovered in 1956 and yielded the last fragments to be found in the vicinity of Qumran.<ref>{{cite web | title=Digital Dead Sea Scrolls at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem – Discovery | url=http://dss.collections.imj.org.il/discovery | access-date=4 November 2023}}</ref>

Caves 4–10 are clustered in an area lying in relative proximity {{convert|160|yards|m|abbr=on|disp=flip}} from Khirbet Qumran, while caves 1, 2, 3 and 11 are located 1 mile (1–2 kilometres) north, with Cave 3 the most remote.<ref name="LibAnn">{{cite journal|title=Qumran in the Second Temple Period: Reassessing the Archaeological Evidence. |author=Yizhar Hirschfeld |journal=Liber Annuus |date=2002 |volume=52 |pages=279–281 |quote=Some of these caves, such as 4 and 5, are located ca. 160 yd from the site, while others, such as 1, 2, 3 and 11, are at a distance of 1 mile to its north (Fig. 12) |url=http://www.christusrex.org/www1/ofm/sbf/Books/LA52/LA52247Hirschfeld_Qumran.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060517184932/http://www.christusrex.org/www1/ofm/sbf/Books/LA52/LA52247Hirschfeld_Qumran.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 May 2006 |access-date=23 January 2016 |author-link=Yizhar Hirschfeld }}</ref><ref>Martinez/Tigchelaar (1999). [https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7xcvitgyGmgU0sxOVV3SXVBZTQ/view?usp=sharing 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)</ref> In February 2017, Hebrew University archaeologists announced the discovery of a new 12th cave.<ref name="Q12_2017">{{cite press release|url=http://new.huji.ac.il/en/article/33424|title=Hebrew University Archaeologists Find 12th Dead Sea Scrolls Cave|publisher=Hebrew University of Jerusalem|date=8 February 2017|access-date=9 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170209094500/http://new.huji.ac.il/en/article/33424|archive-date=9 February 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> 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.<ref name="McKernan">{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/new-dead-sea-scrolls-cave-discovered-archaelogists-artefacts-2000-year-old-antiquities-west-bank-a7571696.html|title=New Dead Sea Scrolls cave filled with ancient artefacts discovered for first time in 60 years|work=The Independent|last1=McKernan|first1=Bethan|year=2017|access-date=2 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171115211657/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/new-dead-sea-scrolls-cave-discovered-archaelogists-artefacts-2000-year-old-antiquities-west-bank-a7571696.html|archive-date=15 November 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>

In March 2021, Israeli archaeologists announced the discovery of dozens of fragments bearing biblical text, written in Greek, from the books of [[Book of Zechariah|Zechariah]] and [[Book of Nahum|Nahum]]. This group of findings is believed to have been hidden in a cave between 132 and 136 CE during the [[Bar Kokhba revolt]].<ref name="Associated Press">{{Cite web |last=Zion |first=Ilan |date=16 March 2021 |title=Israeli experts announce discovery of more Dead Sea scrolls |url=https://apnews.com/article/new-dead-sea-scrolls-israel-19844d3eb208190914182e78d9d79aac |access-date=16 March 2021 |website=APNews}}</ref> However, a 10,500-year-old basket made of woven [[Reed (plant)|reeds]] was also discovered in the [[Wadi Murabba'at|Muraba'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.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/.premium-israel-finds-new-dead-sea-scroll-first-such-discovery-in-60-years-1.9621317 |title=Israel Finds New Dead Sea Scrolls, First Such Discovery in 60 Years |website=Haaretz |date=16 March 2021 }}</ref> In 2021, more scrolls were discovered by Israeli authorities in a different cave near the Dead Sea called the [[Cave of Horrors]].<ref>{{Cite news|last=Kershner|first=Isabel|date=16 March 2021|title=Israel Reveals Newly Discovered Fragments of Dead Sea Scrolls|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/16/world/middleeast/dead-sea-scrolls-israel.html|access-date=2 April 2021|issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Newly discovered fragments of Dead Sea Scrolls reveal hidden ancient Bible texts|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/dead-sea-scrolls-discoveries-are-first-ancient-bible-texts-be-n1261182|access-date=2 April 2021|website=NBC News|date=18 March 2021}}</ref>