# The Dead Sea Scrolls: How Bedouin Shepherds Found the Oldest Bible Manuscripts In the winter of 1946 to 1947, Bedouin shepherds climbed into a cave above the Dead Sea and found clay jars holding ancient scrolls. Over the next decade, eleven caves gave up the remains of some 900 manuscripts, including the oldest known copies of books of the Hebrew Bible. - Source: https://amazingfactss.com/stories/dead-sea-scrolls - Published: 2026-11-14; updated: 2026-11-14 - Topic: Art and artifacts - Publisher: Amazing Facts editorial team (https://amazingfactss.com/editorial-policy) - Illustrations are AI-generated reconstructions, not photographs. ## Quick facts - **Where:** Caves near Khirbet Qumran, on the north-west shore of the Dead Sea, in the West Bank - **Found:** Cave 1 between late 1946 and early 1947 by Bedouin shepherds; ten more caves by 1956 - **Age:** Mostly 3rd century BC to 1st century AD - **How many:** Remains of roughly 900 to 1,000 manuscripts, mostly as tens of thousands of fragments - **Languages:** Mostly Hebrew, also Aramaic and some Greek - **Where now:** Mostly the Shrine of the Book, Israel Museum, Jerusalem; some in the Jordan Museum, Amman In the dry hills above the north-western shore of the Dead Sea, the cliffs are pocked with caves. Some time between November 1946 and February 1947, three young Bedouin shepherds were grazing their flocks there. One of them noticed an opening high in the rock. His cousin, Muhammed edh-Dhib, was the first to squeeze inside. In the gloom stood tall clay jars. Most were empty. A few held bundles of old leather, some wrapped in linen and covered with lines of square, black letters. The shepherds took a few of the rolls back to their camp and, for a while, hung them from a tent pole. They had found the first of the Dead Sea Scrolls. ## A cave near Qumran The shepherds belonged to the Ta'amireh tribe, who roamed the desert between Bethlehem and the Dead Sea. The cave, later called Cave 1, lies a short distance north of a ruined settlement known as Khirbet Qumran. The best-known version of the story says that Muhammed edh-Dhib threw a stone into the cave while looking for a stray goat and heard pottery break. That account comes from the Bedouin themselves, but it was reconstructed from interviews years later and is told in several forms. What is not in doubt is what they took out: seven scrolls, including a nearly complete copy of the Book of Isaiah. ## Scrolls for sale The shepherds first took the scrolls to a dealer in Bethlehem, who handed them back, worried they might have been stolen from a synagogue. They then reached Khalil Eskander Shahin, known as Kando, a cobbler and part-time antiquities dealer. Over the following months the seven scrolls were split up. Four, including the great Isaiah scroll, were bought by Mar Athanasius Yeshue Samuel, the Syrian Orthodox archbishop at St Mark's Monastery in Jerusalem. The other three reached Eleazar Sukenik, an archaeologist at the Hebrew University. On 29 November 1947, the day the United Nations voted to partition Palestine, Sukenik made a risky journey to Bethlehem to negotiate for them. Scholars at the American Schools of Oriental Research photographed the archbishop's scrolls and compared the script with the oldest Hebrew biblical texts then known. On 11 April 1948 they announced the find to the world. With war spreading, the archbishop took his scrolls to the United States. On 1 June 1954 an advertisement appeared in The Wall Street Journal offering "The Four Dead Sea Scrolls" for sale. Sukenik's son, the archaeologist and former army chief Yigael Yadin, arranged their purchase through an intermediary for $250,000. All seven original scrolls were now in Israel. ![A tall cylindrical clay jar, pieced together from fragments, standing in a museum case](https://amazingfactss.com/img/stories/dead-sea-scrolls-jar.jpg "A cylindrical clay jar of the kind that held scrolls in the Qumran caves, in a museum display. Photo: Dale Gillard, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons.") ## Eleven caves Archaeologists did not locate Cave 1 until 28 January 1949. Excavations at the cave and at the Qumran ruins followed, led by the French Dominican scholar Roland de Vaux and the Jordanian antiquities chief Gerald Lankester Harding. The search turned into a race between the archaeologists and the Bedouin, who quickly learned the value of what they were finding. Between 1952 and 1956, ten more caves with scrolls came to light. The richest was Cave 4, cut into the marl terrace close to the ruins, which held thousands of fragments from around 500 different manuscripts. Cave 3 yielded the strangest object of all, the Copper Scroll, a list of hidden treasure engraved on sheets of metal. Cave 11 produced the Temple Scroll, which is more than 8 metres long. In 2017 archaeologists excavated a twelfth cave west of Qumran. It held broken scroll jars and 1950s pickaxes, but no scrolls, a sign that looters had got there first. ## What the scrolls contain Altogether the caves held the remains of roughly 900 to 1,000 manuscripts, most of them now in fragments. Most are written in Hebrew, some in Aramaic and a few in Greek, mainly on parchment, with some on papyrus. More than 200 are copies of books of the Hebrew Bible. Every book is represented except Esther. Before 1947, the oldest substantial Hebrew Bible manuscripts dated from around AD 900 to 1000. The scrolls pushed that back by about a thousand years, and showed that the text had been copied with remarkable care, though with more variety than scholars had expected. Other scrolls are Jewish religious works that did not enter the Bible, such as the Book of Jubilees. A third group belongs to a distinctive religious community: the Community Rule, with its regulations for members, the War Scroll, describing a final battle between the "Sons of Light" and the "Sons of Darkness", and commentaries that read biblical prophecy as speaking about the community's own time. ![A white tiled dome shaped like the lid of a scroll jar, rising above a stone wall and green scrub](https://amazingfactss.com/img/stories/dead-sea-scrolls-shrine.jpg "The Shrine of the Book at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, built to house the first scrolls. Photo: heatkernel, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.") ## Who wrote them? Handwriting styles and radiocarbon tests place most of the scrolls between the 3rd century BC and the 1st century AD. A study published in 2025, combining new radiocarbon dates with computer analysis of handwriting, suggested that some may be older than previously thought. For decades most scholars followed de Vaux in linking the scrolls to the Essenes, a strict Jewish sect described by ancient writers, who, he argued, lived at Qumran. In this view, they hid their library in the caves before Roman troops destroyed the settlement in about AD 68, during the Jewish revolt. Some scholars now argue that many scrolls came from Jerusalem or from several groups. The debate continues. ## Delays, conspiracies and fakes Publication was painfully slow. For about 40 years, a small international team controlled access to the unpublished fragments. Rumours grew that something was being hidden. In 1991 the Huntington Library in California opened its set of photographs to all researchers, and a facsimile edition was published. Most of the official editions were complete by 2001, and none of the texts mentions Jesus or the early Church. High prices brought another problem. Since 2002, dozens of supposed new fragments have surfaced on the antiquities market. In March 2020 an investigation commissioned by the Museum of the Bible in Washington concluded that all 16 of the museum's fragments were modern forgeries, probably written on old leather to fool buyers. ## Where they are now Most of the scrolls are in Jerusalem. The seven from Cave 1 went to the Shrine of the Book, a building at the Israel Museum opened in 1965, whose white dome echoes the lids of the jars. Fragments are kept in climate-controlled storage by the Israel Antiquities Authority and have been photographed in high resolution for an online library. Some pieces, including the Copper Scroll, are in the Jordan Museum in Amman. Jordan and the Palestinian Authority dispute Israel's ownership of the scrolls taken after 1967. The scrolls survived two thousand years because someone placed them in jars in a dry desert cave. They came back into the world because a group of shepherds was curious enough to climb in and look. ## Legend or fact? - **Claim:** A shepherd boy threw a stone into a cave while looking for a lost goat, heard pottery smash and found the scrolls. **Verdict:** Partly true. This is the popular version, and it goes back to the Bedouin themselves, but it was pieced together from interviews and retold in several forms. The basic facts, three Ta'amireh shepherds and jars in a cave near Qumran, are accepted. - **Claim:** The scrolls contain secret writings that the Church or Israel suppressed. **Verdict:** Not quite. Publication was badly delayed for decades because a small team controlled access, which fed conspiracy theories. All the texts have now been published and photographed, and none mentions Jesus or early Christianity. - **Claim:** The scrolls were written by the Essenes, a Jewish sect living at Qumran. **Verdict:** Partly true. This was the near-consensus for decades and remains a leading view. Some scholars argue that many scrolls were brought from Jerusalem or elsewhere, and the question is still debated. - **Claim:** Every Dead Sea Scroll fragment in a museum is genuine. **Verdict:** Not quite. Since 2002, forged fragments have appeared on the market. In 2020 an investigation for the Museum of the Bible in Washington found that all 16 of its supposed scroll fragments were modern forgeries. ## Timeline - **3rd century BC to 1st century AD:** The scrolls are copied, according to palaeography and radiocarbon dating. - **c. AD 68:** The settlement at Qumran is destroyed during the Jewish revolt against Rome; the scrolls stay hidden in the caves. - **Late 1946 to early 1947:** Bedouin shepherds find seven scrolls in jars in what becomes Cave 1. - **29 November 1947:** Eleazar Sukenik of the Hebrew University travels to Bethlehem to buy scrolls, on the day of the UN partition vote. - **11 April 1948:** The American Schools of Oriental Research announce the discovery to the world. - **1949 to 1956:** Roland de Vaux and Gerald Lankester Harding excavate Qumran; Bedouin and archaeologists find ten more scroll caves. - **1 July 1954:** After a Wall Street Journal advertisement, Yigael Yadin buys four scrolls in New York for Israel for $250,000. - **1991:** Unpublished photographs are released, ending the long monopoly on access. - **2020:** The Museum of the Bible announces that all 16 of its fragments are forgeries. ## Questions people ask ### Who found the Dead Sea Scrolls? Three Bedouin shepherds of the Ta'amireh tribe, Muhammed edh-Dhib, his cousin Jum'a Muhammed and Khalil Musa, found the first seven scrolls in a cave near Qumran between late 1946 and early 1947. Later caves were found by Bedouin and by archaeologists. ### How old are the Dead Sea Scrolls? Most were copied between the 3rd century BC and the 1st century AD, based on handwriting styles and radiocarbon dating. A 2025 study suggested some may be a little older than previously thought. ### What is in the Dead Sea Scrolls? They include copies of every book of the Hebrew Bible except Esther, other Jewish religious writings such as Jubilees, and texts of a particular religious community, such as the Community Rule and the War Scroll. ### Where are the Dead Sea Scrolls kept? Most are in Jerusalem, at the Shrine of the Book in the Israel Museum and in Israel Antiquities Authority storage. Some, including the Copper Scroll, are in the Jordan Museum in Amman. Ownership is disputed by Jordan and the Palestinian Authority. ### Are there fake Dead Sea Scrolls? Yes. Many fragments that surfaced on the antiquities market after 2002 have been shown to be modern forgeries, often written on old leather. The Museum of the Bible withdrew its 16 fragments after tests in 2018 to 2020. ## Sources - Discovery and Publication, The Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library, Israel Antiquities Authority - 'Dead Sea Scrolls' at the Museum of the Bible are all forgeries, Michael Greshko, National Geographic (2020) - The Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls, James VanderKam and Peter Flint, HarperSanFrancisco (2002) - The Archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls, Jodi Magness, Eerdmans (2002; 2nd ed. 2021) - Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls, Lawrence H. Schiffman, Jewish Publication Society (1994) - Dead Sea Scrolls, Wikipedia, and the sources it cites