I decided to research the Dead Sea Scrolls for my research project after my visit to the 'Mirror of the World' exhibition at the State Library of Victoria.
Whilst marvelling at the beauty and intricacy of the older works on display I felt that the Dead Sea Scrolls which are even older than the works on display would be an interesting area to research.
Introduction
The Dead Sea Scrolls were first discovered in 1947 by a Bedouin shepherd (and his cousins) along the northwest shore of the Dead Sea (Hence their name). Fragments of the scrolls continued to be discovered up until 1956.
The discovery of the scrolls was said to be the greatest manuscript discovery of the modern era.
The fragments are thought to make up between 825 - 870 actual scrolls.
For the shepherds who first found the scrolls and were hoping to find treasure when they first started exploring the caves, the discovery of jars containing fragments of parchment would have been quite disappointing. Being illiterate they had no way of establishing if what they had found was actually worth anything and as a result the scrolls were taken back to their tent where they allegedly hung from the tent poles until winter ended and the cousins decided to take them to nearby Bethlehem where they sold them for five pounds to Khalil Eskander Shahin (known as Kando)who also agreed to share any further profits from the eventual sale of the scrolls and agreed to be their agent should they make any other finds.
Kando was a Syrian Orthodox Christian and acting on a hunch he mentioned the scrolls to Metropolitan Athanasius Yeshue Samuel of St Mark's Orthodox church in Jerusalem who eventually purchased the scrolls for twenty four pounds.
At around the same time archaeologist Eleazar Sukenik who worked at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem was offered two fairly complete ancient scrolls and some fragments by antiques dealer Feidi Salah.
Eleazar soon realised that the scrolls were 'not only authentic but truly ancient, dating from the Second Temple period (around 200BC), judging by the similarity of their script to that on grave inscriptions he had studied' (Hodge 2001, p.10).
Now the true search began to determine how many more scrolls and fragments were still in the caves and to arrange for their retrieval.
Reference List:
Books;
Hodge. Stephen 2001, The Dead Sea Scrolls, Piatkus, London.
Websites;
24 Fantastic Facts Dead Sea Scrolls - about the discovery at QUMRAN, 1996-2005, CenturyOne Bookstore, viewed 22 April 2010.
What is the importance of the Dead Sea Scrolls 1997, ChristianAnswers.Net, viewed 22 April 2010.
What are the Dead Sea Scrolls? 2002-2010, All About The Journey, viewed 22 April 2010.
Importance of the Dead Sea Scrolls 2000-2009, 2010, Buzzle, viewed 22 April 2010.
Picture
Dead Sea Scroll Jar, 1997 - 2003, CenturyOne Bookstore, viewed 22 April 2010.
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