Are there more Dead Sea Scrolls yet to be discovered?

Chris Sinkinson  |  Features  |  defending our faith
Date posted:  1 May 2021
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Are there more Dead Sea Scrolls yet to be  discovered?

Inside the Shrine of the Book in Jerusalem where many of the Dead Sea Scrolls are housed. | photo: iStock

The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls was one of the most important archaeological finds of the 20th century, and of incalculable significance for Biblical studies and apologetics. Newly-announced Biblical fragments retrieved from the Dead Sea region remind us that the story is not over yet.

In 1947 three Bedouin boys were herding their sheep and goats near the Dead Sea when they discovered the first of what became known as the Qumran caves. In the cave were ten jars, mostly empty, but one of which contained three leather scrolls. A later trip retrieved even more scrolls from the cave. What they had discovered were only the first of many ancient Jewish manuscripts that had been hidden in the caves during Roman times.

25,000 fragments

Between 1947 and 1956, as archaeologists became involved, about 25,000 fragments were retrieved from 11 different caves in the area. They probably represent a library of 900 complete scrolls. Many of them record the religious teachings of a Jewish sect who lived in the desert, but almost every book of the Hebrew Bible is found among them.

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