Priceless parchments, religious mystics, and a copper map leading to lost temple treasure.
The plot of the next "Indiana Jones" movie? No. It's the real-life story of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
When it comes to having serious discussions regarding ancient religious texts,
the Dead Sea Scrolls are considered some of the most important documents out there. A primary
source for studying the origins of certain religious practices and beliefs, they also
offer valuable insights into non-religious writings and a glimpse into everyday life in
ancient times. But as critical as these texts are to studying history, the story surrounding
the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls sounds like something from an "Indiana Jones" movie.
Beginning in 1947, when a Bedouin shepherd boy accidentally discovered a forgotten cache of
clay jars in a cave, the scrolls have inspired countless treasure hunters all over the globe.
Originally sold to an antiquities dealer in Bethlehem, the scrolls began an incredible
journey. Before their true value was known, they passed through many hands, even traveling to the
United States, where they were sold through a classified ad in the Wall Street Journal.
Over time, however, several of the scrolls found a permanent home at the Rockefeller Archeological
Museum in Jerusalem, but not before sparking countless archeological excavations to find
more. And find more they did. So far, archaeologists have found the remains
of more than 900 individual manuscripts hidden in the caves of the Judean Desert.
While some of the Dead Sea Scrolls are intact, others are not, and putting them together has
been a challenge. Still, as difficult as reassembling the scrolls might have been,
no one has been able to answer the million-dollar question of who wrote them.
It's believed the Dead Sea Scrolls were written sometime between the third century
BCE and around 70 CE. This predates the oldest Hebrew texts of the Jewish
Bible by as many as 11 centuries. To make things even more confusing,
the texts are written in at least three different languages, including Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic.
While active debate still rages over who wrote the scrolls, there are some good
theories. Some scholars believe a sect of Jewish ascetics, called the Essenes,
authored the texts. The scrolls were discovered near the ruins of a settlement once inhabited
by these people who dedicated their lives to copying, writing, and preserving sacred
texts. It is thought by some scholars that the Essenes stowed the scrolls in the caves
nearby to protect them from the rampaging Romans who destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD.
That's one theory, but some experts don't buy it, saying there's little proof the Essenes had
anything to do with writing the scrolls. They think the settlement was more of a fort than
a library. These scholars believe the people who hid the scrolls were priests from the temple who
fled Jerusalem ahead of the Romans and stashed the documents in the caves for safekeeping.
Could the Essenes have been a model for the first Christian monks? Maybe, but,
like so much surrounding the Dead Sea scrolls, there is no conclusive evidence to support that
assumption. Still, the question of who wrote the scrolls is of great interest
because of the important part they play in linking Judaism and early Christianity.
Qumran, the settlement excavated at the foot of the cliffs where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found,
appears to have been set up like a religious commune. Unearthed along with the usual ruins,
archeologists discovered purification pools and a scriptorium complete with metal inkwells and
shards of clay oil lamps. Many believe this evidence proves that the Dead Sea Scrolls
were written there, but, to date, no one has been able to confirm the theory one way or the other.
One thing that cannot be disputed, however, was the brother's complete devotion to God.
"Before I move my hands and feet,
I will bless His name. I will praise Him before I go out or enter, or sit or rise."
It may come as a surprise to learn that not all of the Dead Sea Scrolls are religious texts. In fact,
the scrolls can be divided into "Biblical" and "Non-Biblical"
categories. There is also a category of fragments that researchers have
labeled "Unidentified' because they are too small to be read and studied.
Within the "Biblical" category, there is a huge portion of the text dedicated to the
Hebrew Bible. Every book, except for the "Book of Ester," has been found within the scrolls. The
"non-Biblical" texts, on the other hand, include scriptures that are no longer considered part of
the religious canon as well as calendars, poems, laws, and texts on living a good, ethical life.
Interestingly, some scrolls appear to be a collection of records, including 15 military
letters and various personal documents belonging to people who lived in the surrounding community.
While many of the Dead Sea Scrolls exist only as small fragments of text, there is one scroll
that is not only complete but huge. Thought to be a copy of a manuscript originally written
around 120 BCE, the "Temple Scroll" contains 18 parchment sheets and is over 26 feet long.
The scroll describes the temple compound in Jerusalem and details things like the proper
way to slaughter sacrificial animals, tithing, and how priests should perform ritual baths.
It's so obsessed with cleanliness that it even prescribes how to affix spikes on the temple
walls to keep the birds from pooping all over them. In fact, waste products of both humans and
animals were considered so impure that toilets were banned within at least a mile of the city.
Spiritual cleanliness was another concern entirely. Not only does the Temple Scroll
detail exactly how long worshippers wanting to visit the temple should
abstain from sex but is even more restrictive than the Torah itself.
Since the beginning of time, mankind has been obsessed with how the world will end. It's not
surprising, then, that the Dead Sea Scrolls also deal with Armageddon. The aptly named
"War Scroll" starts by describing a massive 40-year conflict between "The Sons of Light"
and "The Sons of Darkness." It all comes down to one final battle divided into six horrible,
bloody "engagements. "Team "Light" wins three, and "Team Darkness" wins three, but it's the
seventh confrontation that finally decides things when "...the great hand of God shall overcome."
"A flaming blade to devour the wicked struck down by the judgment of God."
While it might be comforting just to know the "Good Guys" win in the end, the scrolls
detail a triumph complete with heavenly trumpets, prayers for salvation, and the total destruction
of all that is evil. The scrolls predict the day after the final battle will be a glorious feast
of thanksgiving and celebration, but what follows is a mystery. The final lines of the prophecy are
missing, so whether one finds that reassuring or not depends on the reader's point of view.
Prophecies surrounding Armageddon are always interesting, but what could be more "Indiana
Jones" than a mystery surrounding an ancient treasure map? In 1952, archaeologists found
something amazing. The "Copper Scroll" is a map with directions to a lost treasure
etched into copper. The scroll points out as many as 64 locations across Judea and lists
what's hidden there. It's a massive fortune that has led to speculation
the Copper Scroll is a map to the lost treasure of the Second Temple of Jerusalem.
The Second Temple was destroyed in 70 AD when the Romans sacked the city. That's
significant because the 8-foot-long Copper Scroll has been dated around the same time.
Scholars believe the treasure was whisked away by temple priests who buried it around
Judea and left clues to its location etched into the copper of the scroll.
Some of the places mentioned in the scroll have already been excavated, but none of
the treasure was ever found. Was it retrieved by the temple priests after the Romans left,
or were translations of the scroll incorrect? Maybe the map itself is a red herring or written
in code. No one knows, and the location of the temple treasure remains a mystery to this day.
Another interesting fact about the Dead Sea scrolls is that the scrolls weren't the only
exciting artifacts found in the caves. Other objects found along with the clay jars were,
up until recently, a mystery to researchers. Though some scholars assumed these additional
objects held some significance related to the scrolls, there were few verifiable connections.
Then, in 2018, researchers completed the restoration of a 60-piece scroll
that took over a year to reassemble and translate. The result was a 364-day
calendar that included insight into new details on seasons, celebrations,
and harvest festivals. Another significant find turned out to be a ceramic sundial.
"It's the only timepiece in antiquity which
accurately determines the fifth hour of the day anytime during the year."
To the Essenes, this had great religious significance because they believed the fifth
hour was when heaven and earthly time perfectly aligned, and they were spiritually closest to God.
For the most part, ancient scrolls were written on parchment made primarily from animal skins,
and the Dead Sea Scrolls were no exception. In fact,
researchers have discovered that the scrolls contained a variety of DNA from various animals,
including domesticated goats and sheep and even wild ibex.
When texts were separated by similar writing styles, researchers doing DNA
testing came up with some exciting results. They discovered similar texts tended to be
written on parchments made from related animals. In one instance, testing two pieces of the "Book
of Jeremiah" revealed they were written on two different types of animal hide. This meant that,
contrary to what scholars had previously believed, they couldn't be part of the same
scroll. The conclusion that they were written separately supported the idea that the texts,
or at least the parchments, came from different regions across Judea.
Science has come a long way since the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in 1947,
and advances have allowed researchers to do more in-depth testing on scroll fragments.
This has led to a few surprises when they looked at the methods used to preserve them in the past.
For example, when researchers started looking at the ultra-thin parchment of the Temple Scroll,
they discovered the writing was done on the outer-skin side of the parchment.
This was odd because the skin had been treated with a layer of salt,
making writing on it similar to writing on a layer of plaster applied to a wall.
What's puzzling is that the salts used in the preparation of the parchment weren't
native to the Dead Sea, and there are no clues that point to where they came
from. Because it is impossible to tell if the parchments were prepared locally or elsewhere,
scholars remain perplexed about even the most basic facts regarding the scrolls' origins.
For many years, the Museum of the Bible in Washington D.C. considered their 16
fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls to be one of their most prized exhibits. Unfortunately,
in 2020, the Museum was forced to announce that
its much-prized collection of scroll fragments was made up of fakes.
Scholars had long suspected something was fishy about the Museum's fragments,
but it wasn't until 2018 that the Museum received the test results that confirmed
their fragments were not genuine. Researchers later discovered that some of the leather in
the fragments had once been a part of a pair of Roman-era shoes. Of course,
that opened up an entirely new set of issues because if the fragments in the
Museum's collection were frauds, where did they come from, and were there more fakes out there?
Ever since the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered, archeologists and adventurers have wondered if
there are still more scrolls waiting to be discovered. The answer to that question is
probably yes. In 2016, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced the official establishment
of a program to assist with locating and excavating new caves in the areas
surrounding those that had already yielded scrolls. In fact, the Israeli government
appeared to be in a hurry to get started. It was possible their haste was due to
the recent apprehension of a gang of looters caught with a slew of new scroll fragments.
In 2017 a new cave yielded some promising artifacts. Unfortunately, judging from the
remains left by previous visitors, like 1950's era pick-axes, there are signs that it might have been
looted in the past. But, even if that site proves disappointing, archeologists have discovered
around 50 more sites nearby. Those locations have been targeted for further exploration
because they look likely to produce more ancient texts, as well as other biblical-era relics.
Today, a new generation of archeologists from around the world comb the dark caves of Judea,
searching for lost texts and treasure. At the very least, studying the scrolls has
given scholars a wealth of information and a better understanding of early Jewdeo-Christian
history. So, who knows what the next cave will bring? Maybe somebody should call Indiana Jones.
"You call this archeology?"