Qumran is ten miles south of Jericho, about a mile from the Dead Sea. In the surrounding cliffs are many caves. Below the cliffs are the remains of the settlement of the Qumran community. It dates from about 135 BC. Fire and earthquake devastated the community which in the beginning numbered about fifty. It was rebuilt towards the end of the reign of Herod the Great and finally destroyed by the Romans in 68 AD.
Excavations of the site identify various occupations of the community.
A reconstruction of the Scribes Room where scrolls were copied. Many of the prescious manuscripts were placed in clay pots and hidden in the caves around Qumran when the community was under threat. Scrolls date from 132-135 with one text dating from the 8th century BC.
Dining room
The caves above Qumran
In the spring of 1947 a Bedouin shepherd was grazing his goats. One of Muhammad’s goats strayed. He climbed a steep cliff. As he passed a cave he threw a stone inside and heard the sound of breaking. He told his friend and both boys clambered into the cave where they found several large clay jars. They had discovered the Dead Sea Scrolls. Since 1947 nearly 900 scrolls have been recovered from eleven caves. Many are incomplete. Thousands of fragments have been painstakingly pieced together.
Caves 4 and 4b
Interior of cave 4
