The Discovery
In 1947, a young Bedouin shepherd accidentally found the first scrolls while looking for one of these lost farm animals.
What is a goat (or sheep)?
While some scrolls were written in Aramaic or Greek, the vast majority were written in this ancient language.
What is Hebrew?
The scrolls survived for so long because they were hidden in a very dry, hot environment known as the Judean this.
What is a desert?
To make the scrolls, ancient scribes wrote on papyrus (made from plants) or parchment, which is made from this.
What is animal skin (leather)?
These tall, cylindrical clay objects found in the caves were specially designed with lids to protect the scrolls from moisture and pests.
What are scroll jars (or storage jars)?
The ancient scrolls stayed safe for thousands of years because they were sealed inside these clay containers.
What are jars (or pots)?
The collection contains some of the oldest known copies of texts from this sacred book.
What is the Hebrew Bible (or Old Testament)?
Archaeologists searched through numerous dark, rocky holes near the Dead Sea to gather all the scroll fragments.
What are caves?
Scientists used this scientific "dating" method to figure out exactly how old the scrolls were by measuring the decay of atoms.
What is carbon dating (or radiocarbon dating)?
Archaeologists found these small clay containers in the Qumran "Scriptorium" (writing room), which still held dried-up traces of carbon ink used by the scribes.
What are inkwells?
Though discovered in the mid-1900s, the scrolls were actually written during this ancient period of history.
What is the 1st Century BC or over 2,000 years ago?
While most scrolls are made of skin or plants, one famous scroll is made of this shiny metal and contains a map to hidden treasure.
What is copper?
Many scholars believe a strict, isolated group of ancient people called this wrote or protected the scrolls.
Who are the Essenes?
Today, the most famous scrolls are kept safe in Israel inside a specially shaped museum building called the "Shrine of the..." this.
What is the Book?
Over 1,200 of these metal items were dug up at Qumran, helping historians trace exactly what years people lived there based on the faces of Roman rulers stamped on them.
What are coins?
Before the world realized their true value, the first few scrolls were sold to a local shoemaker and antiquities dealer known by this nickname.
Who is Kando (Khalil Eskander Shahin)?
Not all scrolls were religious books; many were "sectarian texts" containing these everyday instructions on how the community should behave.
What are community rules (or legal bylaws)?
At the Qumran ruins, archaeologists found massive plastered step-pools used for this strict daily ritual.
What is ritual bathing (or spiritual washing/cleansing)?
Scientists analyzed the ink on the scrolls and discovered it was primarily made out of this dark material, mixed with water and oil.
What is carbon (or soot/charcoal)?
Before being placed in the jars, many scrolls were carefully packed in protective cloths made of this plant-based fabric, which survived because of the dry air.
What is linen?
For decades, it was believed only 11 caves held scrolls, but in 2017, archaeologists officially discovered a numbered this cave, though it had unfortunately been looted by thieves.
What is Cave 12?
The longest scroll at around 27 feet includes a detailed architectural blueprint for this specific Jerusalem building and its compound.
What is the Temple (or The Temple Scroll)?
The community likely hid the scrolls in the caves in a hurry around 68 AD to protect them from an invasion by this massive ancient empire.
Who is the Roman Empire (or the Romans)?
For decades, only a tiny team of scholars had access to the scrolls until this L.A.-area library shocked the academic world by releasing full photographs of them to everyone.
What is the Huntington Library?
Because the physical scrolls are too fragile to be out in the light, the Israel Museum created the Leon Levy Digital Library so people can look at high-resolution images of them on this global network.
What is the Internet (or the World Wide Web)?