Dead Sea scrolls were discovered in 1946 and 1947 on the west bank of the cave. There were further discoveries in the fifties, most recently in 2017, when the Hebrew University recycled a jar of blank parchment from the 12th cave. These texts are of great historical and religious significance and contain some of the oldest writings that were later included in the Bible. Thousands of other scripts and parchments have been found in the Dead Sea region. Many of the findings have been damaged and cannot be repaired and identified, which may be due to natural causes at various time periods.
This is understandable because these Bibles are believed to be thousands of years old.
The exact time period is a point of contention among scholars, although most believe that the scrolls fell between the third century BC and the first century AD.
In total, the researchers recovered 981 different manuscripts from 11 caves.
Only two Biblical texts older than the Dead Sea Scrolls have been found.
They are located in Ketef Hinnom, Jerusalem, and were later founded in 600 BC.
The discovery of the scrolls was significant to Old Testament scholars.
In this case, the Scrolls are an affirmation or a denial of the reliability of textual transmission from the original biblical text to the oldest Masoretic text available.
This discovery proves to have a certain transmission accuracy over a period of more than a thousand years.
As a result, the writing in the Old Testament was used as a reliable reference object for the original work.
In BBC Radio 4's 2014 podcast Beyond Faith: Archaeology and Religion, religious archaeologists and academics discussed the importance of the Scrolls.
Professor Stavrakopoulou specifically revealed how these findings exposed certain social problems of the time.
BBC Ernie Rea asked Professor Stavracopelo: "What was the impact of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls?" Does it tell us about the time of Jesus that we didn't know about before? ”
She replied: "I think this shows us that Jesus' time and the Jesus movement that grew up around him was just one of many Jewish sects or cults in which the relationship between Jews and Jews was fraught with anxiety." Their God to the rest of the world.
"Especially in the case of the Roman Empire.
Thus, the idea of the coming of the messianic figure or the messianic figure with regard to the end of the world and a great apocalyptic or apocalyptic controversy is actually not only universal, but also indeed varied in its manifestations.
"Jesus and the movement around him are just one of those manifestations that happen to be discovered."
More recently, in 2018, a U.S. bible museum was forced to remove from its exhibition fragments that it believed were part of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
The Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., sent five of the 16 fragments to Germany for analysis.
The results showed that "the characteristics do not correspond to the ancient lineage".
At the time, jeffrey Kloha, the museum's chief curator, said he hoped "testing would lead to different results."
But, he added, "This is an opportunity to educate the public about the authenticity of rare biblical artifacts, the elaborate testing process conducted, and our commitment to transparency." ”