The Dead Sea Scrolls are ancient manuscripts that were discovered between 1947 and 1956 in 11 caves near Khirbet Qumran, on the northwestern shores of the Dead Sea in Israel.

The Israel Museum, which houses the scrolls, believes the scrolls are approximately two thousand years old, dating from the third century BCE to the first century CE. Most were written in Hebrew, either on parchment or papyrus. Several of the scrolls were found intact, with the rest in fragments. Despite this challenge, scholars managed to reconstruct approximately 950 different manuscripts of various lengths from the fragments.

Three of the seven intact scrolls found in 1947 were immediately purchased by archaeologist E. L. Sukenik on behalf of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU); the other four were bought for the Syrian Orthodox Church in Jerusalem, by Mar Athanasius Samuel. In 1948, Samuel transported the four scrolls in his possession to the U.S.; Sukenik’s son, Yigael Yadin, also an archaeologist at HU, repatriated the scrolls in 1954, returning them to Israel.

In 1995, HU established the Orion Center for the Study of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Associated Literature to stimulate and foster research on the scrolls, particularly integrating the new information gained from them into the body of knowledge about Jewish history and religion in the Second Temple period.

In addition to the Orion Center, Hebrew University archaeologists and scholars continue to pursue more information about the Dead Sea Scrolls. In 2017, HU archaeologists unearthed a 12th cave and an HU student found hidden text on scroll fragments that were previously thought to have been blank.

The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls represents a turning point in the study of the ancient Jewish history. Thanks to these remarkable finds, knowledge of Jewish society in Israel during the Hellenistic and Roman periods, as well as the origins of rabbinical Judaism and early Christianity, has been greatly enriched.

The scrolls contain significant religious literature. The Israel Antiquities Authority defines them as two types: “biblical” manuscripts—books found in today’s Hebrew Bible, and “non-biblical” manuscripts—other religious writings circulating during the Second Temple era, often related to the texts now in the Hebrew Bible. Of this second category, some are considered “sectarian” in nature, since they appear to describe the religious beliefs and practices of a specific religious community.