The Significance of the Dead Sea Scrolls

It has been said that the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls is the most important and significant find in the history of modern archaeology. They have a tremendous amount of historical and religious significance due to the fact that they are believed to be the oldest surviving manuscripts of entire books that we read in our Bibles today.

These ancient scrolls, dated from the 3rd century B.C. to the 1st century A.D., are written mostly in the Hebrew language. Some are written on leather, some on papyrus, and one is written on copper. They were first found in 1947 along the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea. Between 1947 and 1956, a number of complete scrolls, along with many thousands of scroll fragments were found in eleven caves near the ruins of a community known as Qumran.

Since their discovery, teams of scientists and scholars have been carefully preserving and piecing together these scrolls so they can properly become a library of texts which shed light on sacred Scripture. Additionally, they provide us a picture of daily life from a period of over two thousand years ago.