Dead Sea Scrolls Are Made Public (1991)

The Dead Sea Scrolls, ancient Jewish manuscripts, were discovered in 1946 in the Qumran Caves in Palestine’s dead sea. It is not known exactly when the manuscripts were first written, but archaeologists suggest that we can estimate their origins to be between 1 BCE and 3 BCE. The manuscripts are made up of papyrus, copper and leather and are considered one of the most important archaeological discoveries in modern human history and have helped scholars reveal the relationship between early Christianity and Judaism. The Dead Sea Scrolls are mostly written in Hebrew, but some sections are also in Greek and Aramaic and are made up of nearly 950 different documents. Jewish academics break the scrolls into three separate categories: biblical, apocryphal, and sectarian. These initial documents were actually discovered by accident by Bedouin shepherds who were seeking shade whilst working (it is thought that a young shepherd was looking for a stray goat when he found the papers!). The Dead Sea Scrolls feature excerpts from the following books: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Samuel, Ruth, Kings, Micah, Nehemiah, Jeremiah, Joel, Joshua, Judges, Proverbs, Numbers, Psalms, Ezekiel and Jonah.

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