Are there more Dead Sea Scrolls yet to be discovered?

The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls was one of the most important archaeological finds of the 20th century, and of incalculable significance for Biblical studies and apologetics. Newly-announced Biblical fragments retrieved from the Dead Sea region remind us that the story is not over yet.

In 1947 three Bedouin boys were herding their sheep and goats near the Dead Sea when they discovered the first of what became known as the Qumran caves. In the cave were ten jars, mostly empty, but one of which contained three leather scrolls. A later trip retrieved even more scrolls from the cave. What they had discovered were only the first of many ancient Jewish manuscripts that had been hidden in the caves during Roman times.

25,000 fragments

Between 1947 and 1956, as archaeologists became involved, about 25,000 fragments were retrieved from 11 different caves in the area. They probably represent a library of 900 complete scrolls. Many of them record the religious teachings of a Jewish sect who lived in the desert, but almost every book of the Hebrew Bible is found among them.

Hidden from the Romans

The books were all hidden among these caves around 68AD when the Romans were engaged in an aggressive campaign against a Jewish rebellion. The remarkable microclimate of the region was the secret to the scrolls’ survival. Near the lowest point on earth, sparsely populated and with its dry, low humidity environment, it was a perfect place to preserve manuscripts. Had they been hidden in the highlands around Jerusalem or Hebron they would have quickly disintegrated. Instead, they survived 2,000 years, making the Biblical books among them a thousand years older than the earliest Hebrew Scriptures that had been available to scholars. The scrolls demonstrate the reliability of the Jewish and Christian copying traditions that we have relied upon for the Biblical text that we have today.

The Dead Sea Scrolls that have been retrieved, published and housed in the Shrine of the Book in Israel clearly don’t represent all the scrolls that had originally been hidden. No doubt many circulate on the dubious antiquities market, are hidden in private collections, or were found and destroyed long ago.

The search goes on

However, a search of the wilderness goes on. In 2017 a 12th cave was discovered. Empty scroll jars and discarded pickaxes indicated the cave had been looted decades ago. In the years since then the Israeli Antiquities Authority has embarked on a detailed survey of over 500 caves in the region in a race against time against looters. The scrolls announced in March 2021 are Greek fragments of Zechariah and Nahum. They date to the second century and were probably hidden during the Bar Kochba revolt in 132–136AD. This makes them slightly later than the more famous Dead Sea Scrolls but still very ancient Biblical texts.

It is estimated that a further 25% of the Judean wilderness is to be surveyed and all the signs are that more scrolls are likely to be found. Watch this space!