The Qumran Caves · Two Thousand Years in a Cave

In 1947 a Bedouin shepherd found scrolls sealed in clay jars in the cliff caves of Qumran. More than nine hundred were recovered afterwards, the oldest over two thousand years old.

These Dead Sea Scrolls pushed the copying history of the Hebrew Bible back a thousand years, and made this barren plateau one of the most famous sites in archaeology.

Apart from the caves there is nothing here but dry stone steps. In the afternoon the wind comes up from the Dead Sea and passes across the cave mouths.

Historical Mysteries / Dead Sea · Israel / 2nd century BC