Dead Sea Cave Qumran Excavation

The Dead Sea Scrolls are the world’s oldest known biblical manuscripts.   In 1947 scrolls and scroll fragments dating from 150 BC were discovered in a cave by local Bedouin teenagers. They were tending goats near the ancient settlement of Qumran.  

One of the boys threw a rock into a hole in the cliff and heard the sound of pottery breaking. He and his friends gained access to the interior of the cave which housed many clay jars, containing leather and papyrus scrolls.

  

Qumran Caves:

Early in 1949 archaeologists identified cave 1, triggering the beginning of an archaeological investigation of the area. Exploration of the cave, which lies one kilometer north of Wadi Qumran, yielded the remains of at least 70 manuscripts, including bits of the original seven Scrolls. 

The cave’s discovery established the origin of the purchased Scrolls, while archaeological artifacts recovered there confirmed the Scroll dates suggested by paleographic analysis. At the same time the Bedouin continued to search for Scrolls, as these scraps of leather proved to be a lucrative source of income. 

Fresh material found by Bedouin in other caves proved that the Cave 1 discovery was not an isolated phenomenon in the desert; additional caves with manuscripts also existed.

The years between 1951 and 1956 were marked by accelerated activity in both the search for caves and the archaeological excavation of the Qumran site. An eight-kilometer-long strip of cliffs was thoroughly investigated. Of the 11 Qumran Caves that yielded written remains, five were discovered by Bedouin and six by archaeologists. 

Qumran Cave 1 (1Q) – Discovered by a young Bedouin shepherd in 1947 and excavated by archaeologists in 1949. The first Dead Sea Scrolls were found in this cave, later called Cave 1. They were the best-preserved, said to have been protected by tall clay jars with lids intact. This seven-Scroll discovery revolutionized the study of the Hebrew Bible and the origins of Judeo-Christianity. Scrolls found in Cave 1 include the Community Rule, War of the Sons of Light against the Sons of Darkness, Thanksgiving Scroll (Hodayot), Isaiah A and B, Genesis Apocryphon and Pesher Habakkuk (Habakkuk Commentary). When archaeologists excavated the cave, they found additional fragments of these Scrolls and fragments of dozens of other scrolls.

Qumran Cave 2 (2Q) –Discovered by Bedouin in 1952. Cave 2 yielded fragments of many biblical books, including all Five Books of Moses, Jeremiah and Psalms, as well as other works such as Jubilees and the book of Enoch.

Qumran Cave 3 (3Q) – Discovered and excavated by archaeologists in 1952. Cave 3 unearthed a unique two-part copper Scroll, listing what may be sites of the Temple’s buried treasure, hidden throughout the Judean wilderness and Jerusalem area. According to the Scroll, the secret caches held astonishing amounts of gold, silver, copper, and aromatics. Besides the Copper Scroll, Cave 3 also contained fragments of about a dozen biblical and non-biblical Scrolls, including a copy of Jubilees.

Qumran Cave 4 (4Q) – Discovered by Bedouin treasure hunters in 1952, who were exploring right under the noses of archaeologists excavating the site of Qumran. The most legendary of all caves, Cave 4 revealed ample treasures: thousands of fragments from hundreds of manuscripts, comprising 75% of all material from the Qumran caves, including parts of biblical and apocryphal books, biblical commentaries, works on Jewish law, prayers, sectarian texts, tefillin and mezuzot. Due to their poor condition, these fragments were among the most difficult to decipher and translate.

Qumran Cave 5 (5Q) – Discovered and excavated by archaeologists in 1952. Cave 5 yielded fragments of approximately 25 parchment Scrolls, including biblical and sectarian texts.

Qumran Cave 6 (6Q) –Discovered by Bedouin in 1952. Cave 6 contained fragments of about 31 Scrolls mostly written on papyrus, including biblical works, hymns, and sectarian compositions. This small cave is the most accessible of the Dead Sea Scrolls sites to visitors today.

Caves 7-10 (7Q, 8Q, 9Q, 10Q) –Discovered in 1955 by archaeologists. All manuscripts found in Cave 7 were in Greek, including a translation of the book of Exodus. Some scholars have attempted to identify certain tiny fragments from Cave 7 as New Testament texts. Cave 8 contained fragments of Genesis, Psalms, a mezuzah, a hymn and tefillin. Additionally, the discovery of food remains, an abundance of oil lamps and 68 leather reinforcing tabs for scrolls indicate that the cave may have been used as a workshop. Cave 9 yielded only a single papyrus fragment. Archaeologists found only one inscribed potsherd in Cave 10.

Qumran Cave 11 (11Q) – Discovered by Bedouin in 1956. The last of the Qumran Scrolls found to date were discovered in this cave. The remains of around 30 manuscripts were found, including a few nearly-complete Scrolls: Leviticus (written in paleo-Hebrew), Psalms and an Aramaic targum of Job. The most exciting find was the Temple Scroll (the longest of the Dead Sea Scrolls), which rewrites the book of Deuteronomy and details regulations pertaining to Jerusalem and the Jewish Temple.

  

Scrolls Content:

The majority of the Dead Sea Scrolls are religious works, divided on this website into "Biblical" and "Non-Biblical" compositions, with a special category for "Tefillin and Mezuzot". The non-literary records in the corpus (mostly papyrus manuscripts from sites other than the Qumran caves) are grouped into "Documents" and "Letters", and a small number of "Scribal Exercises". The "Unidentified Texts" are tiny fragments in such poor condition that they cannot be categorized. 

There are also "Multiple Compositions". In most cases, a manuscript label refers to a single text. However, sometimes a single label was assigned to more then one composition. In some cases, this is due to the re-use of a scroll in antiquity-- when writing was superimposed over existing text (a palimpsest) or there are separate texts written on the two sides of a scroll (recto and verso). Other cases of "multiple compositions" with a single label manuscript number reflect modern errors and disagreements about classifying fragments.

Occasionally, scholars mistakenly thought that different fragments came from the same manuscript and grouped them together. Sometimes the fragments are the same composition, e.g., the book of Leviticus, but originate from different copies. In such cases, the texts are given an extra letter to distinguish them, such as 4Q26, 4Q26a, 4Q26b, 4Q26c, which represent different copies of Leviticus that were placed together.

New Discoveries:

Since the discovery of the initial ten caves, twenty more caves have been found, most unexcavated. In fact they are at risk of being looted and robbed by treasure hunters.  It is possible that the newly found caves contain more scrolls, coins, treasure, and artifacts that are historically significant. 

Archaeologist Dr. Aaron Judkins is heading to Qumran in December 2016 to excavate a new cave as part of a team approved by the Israeli Antiquities Authority.

He writes:

“The discovery of a new cave at Qumran holds promise of being a ancient repository that could contain treasures such as artifacts, coins, and scroll jars with scrolls. Only an excavation to discover what lies beneath the sands of time will enable us to solve this mystery. The Israeli authorities have granted us a permit to excavate at Qumran, the famous site of the community that produced the Dead Sea Scrolls. This is an extraordinary opportunity for me to work with lead archaeologist Dr. Randall Price & archaeologist Bruce Hall…This world renowned site is historically famous, and is where the majority of the Dead Sea Scrolls (or DSS) were discovered in 1947 in Qumran. The dig has been given a narrow window from the end of December 2016 into the first weeks of January 2017.”

Judkins is known as the “Maverick Archaeologist”, a nickname he earned for his unconventional thinking and questing for historical truth. Most recently he worked on an expedition and documentary about Noah and the Ark. He has also spent time researching the elongated skulls of Peru and Bolivia, pursuing his passion of forbidden archaeology. He is currently raising funds to support his participation in the Dead Sea Cave project.

Site Location:

Link- Qumran Caves