Qumran

The community that preserved the Dead Sea Scrolls, providing the oldest known manuscript evidence of the Hebrew Bible and illuminating Jewish sectarian life in the Second Temple period.

Qumran sits on a dry marl terrace at the northwestern edge of the Dead Sea, about 13 kilometers south of Jericho. The landscape is stark. The Judean desert rises steeply to the west, and the cliffs are riddled with natural caves. The Dead Sea lies just to the east, the lowest body of water on earth. The combination of the dry climate and the high salt content of the surrounding air created preservation conditions that were extraordinary for organic materials like leather and papyrus.

The site had been occupied in the Iron Age, possibly as a small Judean outpost, but the major occupation that concerns archaeologists began around 150 BCE. A Jewish community settled there and built an organized complex of structures that expanded and was modified several times over roughly three centuries. The community was likely the Essenes, a Jewish sect mentioned by Josephus, Philo of Alexandria, and Pliny the Elder, though a minority of scholars argue for alternative identifications such as a priestly group or even a commercial pottery workshop.

The story of discovery is inseparable from one of the great archaeological finds of the 20th century. In early 1947, a young Bedouin shepherd named Muhammad edh-Dhib of the Ta'amireh tribe was searching for a lost goat along the cliffs near Qumran when he tossed a rock into a cave opening and heard pottery breaking. Inside were clay jars containing leather scrolls wrapped in linen. He and his companions removed several of the jars and their contents. The scrolls eventually made their way through a Bethlehem antiquities dealer to scholars in Jerusalem, where their age and significance began to become clear.

The cave where edh-Dhib made his find is now designated Cave 1. It yielded seven major scrolls, including a complete Isaiah scroll, a commentary on Habakkuk, a Community Rule (Serekh ha-Yahad), the Genesis Apocryphon, the War Scroll, the Thanksgiving Hymns, and the Temple Scroll. The complete Isaiah scroll, dated to around 125 BCE, is more than 1,000 years older than any previously known Hebrew manuscript of Isaiah.

Once scholars understood what had been found, systematic searches of the area began. Eleven caves in total around Qumran were found to contain scrolls or fragments. Cave 4 proved to be the richest deposit, yielding tens of thousands of fragments representing hundreds of different manuscripts. In 2017, archaeologists announced the discovery of Cave 12, which contained broken pottery and a blank piece of scroll, suggesting it had been looted in antiquity. Together, the caves produced fragments from about 900 different manuscripts.

Excavation of the settlement site itself was conducted primarily by Roland de Vaux of the Ecole Biblique in Jerusalem, working in five seasons between 1951 and 1956. De Vaux identified a central complex of rooms that included what he interpreted as a scriptorium, a long narrow room with plastered benches and inkwells that he believed was where scribes copied the scrolls. Other rooms served as communal dining areas. The site had a sophisticated water system with multiple cisterns and channels that collected runoff from the hills, funneling it into at least ten ritual baths (miqvaot) and several large storage cisterns. The presence of so many ritual baths reflects the community's intense focus on ritual purity.

A cemetery to the east of the main complex contains approximately 1,200 burials in orderly rows, all oriented north to south. The graves are simple shaft tombs with no grave goods, consistent with the austere lifestyle described in ancient accounts of the Essenes. Analysis of the skeletal remains has shown that most of the burials are adult males, though a peripheral area of the cemetery contains women and children. This distribution fits descriptions of an Essene community that included married and celibate members.

Coins found at the site document the occupation phases. A gap in coinage around 31 BCE corresponds to an earthquake known from historical sources and possibly to a brief abandonment. The final coins are from the period of the Jewish revolt against Rome, ending around 68 CE, when Roman forces campaigning through the region would have reached Qumran. The community apparently hid their scrolls in the caves shortly before this destruction, hoping to recover them later.

Since de Vaux's original excavations, additional work has been conducted by various teams. Israeli archaeologists, Palestinian archaeologists, and international teams have all worked at Qumran and in the surrounding caves. The Israel Antiquities Authority launched a major renewed survey of the Judean desert caves in 2017 to locate any scrolls or fragments before they could be looted. This work resulted in the recovery of additional scroll fragments from caves previously thought to be empty.

• Eleven caves around Qumran yielded fragments from approximately 900 different manuscripts, including biblical texts, sectarian rules, hymns, and apocalyptic literature
• The complete Isaiah scroll from Cave 1, dated to around 125 BCE, is more than 1,000 years older than any previously known Hebrew manuscript of the book
• Cave 4 produced tens of thousands of fragments representing the largest and most diverse portion of the Dead Sea Scrolls collection
• The settlement complex includes what Roland de Vaux interpreted as a scriptorium, with plastered benches and inkwells, suggesting scrolls were copied at the site
• At least ten ritual baths (miqvaot) have been identified within the settlement, indicating an intense community focus on ritual purity
• The cemetery east of the main complex holds approximately 1,200 burials, mostly adult males in orderly rows with no grave goods
• Coin evidence documents community occupation from roughly 150 BCE to 68 CE with a probable break around 31 BCE following an earthquake
• Biblical books found among the scrolls cover every book of the Hebrew Bible except Esther, providing manuscript evidence roughly 1,000 years older than the Masoretic tradition

Isaiah 40:3 says, 'The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord.' The Qumran community quoted this very verse in their Community Rule (1QS 8:14) to explain their reason for going out to the desert. They understood themselves as preparing the way of the Lord by separating from the corrupt Jerusalem priesthood and living a life of strict Torah observance in the wilderness. The same verse is cited in all four Gospels (Matthew 3:3, Mark 1:3, Luke 3:4, John 1:23) to describe John the Baptist's role in the desert before the ministry of Jesus. Whether or not there is any direct connection between John the Baptist and the Qumran community, both applied the same Isaiah passage to their desert sojourn and understood themselves in similar prophetic terms. Beyond this specific verse, the Dead Sea Scrolls have transformed the study of the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. Every book of the Hebrew Bible except Esther is represented among the scrolls, giving scholars manuscript evidence roughly a thousand years older than the Masoretic texts that had previously served as the basis for Old Testament translation. The scrolls also include writings that illuminate the Jewish world in which Jesus and the early church operated, including apocalyptic expectations, messianic hope, and community organization that show both similarities to and differences from early Christianity.