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Caves of Qumran Scrolls

Newly discovered ancient manuscripts from Dead Sea Scroll caves

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An archaeologist has announced a remarkable finding at the International Research Seminar, History of the Caves of Qumran, which was held in Lugano, Switzerland – nine scrolls dating back 2,000 years containing Biblical text which were found in the Qumran caves, the famous caves that yielded the Dead Sea Scrolls over seven decades ago. The scrolls were found hidden inside three leather phylacteries, pouches traditionally carried by observant Jewish men.

According to reports, the leather pouches were first pulled out of the Qumran caves in the 1950s, but were never examined or analysed until Yonatan Adler, an archaeologist from Ariel University, was working on materials from the old archaeological excavations and found the phylacteries. Using latest technology, including multispectral imaging carried out by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), it is now possible to view the text on the ancient scrolls.

“I am very proud that in our laboratory, using the most advanced technologies, we can reconstruct the history of two thousand years ago,” said Pnina Shor, Head of the laboratory for conservation of the IAA.

Qumran was a town inhabited by an Essene community on the western shore of the Dead Sea, in the West Bank, near the ruins of Jericho. The site was built between 150 BC and 130 BC and saw various phases of occupation. The town became famous in 1947 when a Bedouin shepherd unearthed the first of nearly 900 texts, which became known as the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Qumran Caves Scrolls

Two Dead Sea scrolls in situ in the Qumran Caves. Photo credit: Wikipedia

The Dead Sea Scrolls are a set of approximately 930 manuscripts – 750 in Hebrew, 150 in Aramaic and a small number in Greek – written on animal-skin parchments which contain some of the oldest known versions of the Hebrew Bible and are said to be the greatest archaeological find in history.  The scrolls have been dated from the late third century BC to the first century AD and were discovered in a series of 11 caves near Qumran in the years 1947-1956.

The ancient and priceless texts have been dubbed "the academic scandal of the 20th century" because of the long delay in publication, which many have claimed is due to the controversial nature of its contents. The manuscripts shed unprecedented light on Judaism around the turn of the era, at the time when Christianity was born, and some of the contents conflict with the accounts contained in the New Testament. Only 20% of the texts were published upon their discovery; the other 80% remained locked away in a secret vault at the Rockefeller Museum in Jerusalem for about 35 years, causing fury among archaeologists.

The nine ‘newly found’ documents are from caves 4 and 5 and were excavated in 1952 by the archaeologist Roland de Vaux.  Considering the academic scandal concerning the Dead Sea Scrolls, one has to wonder if they really have just been rediscovered or whether they too have been protected and hidden away.  The content of the text has not yet been released.

Featured image: The Qumran Caves. Photo credit: Wikipedia

By April Holloway

 

Comments

Just like the Dead Sea scrolls Israel will rewrite these to favor Israel you will never ever get to know what is actually says.
There is a huge political scandal involved with very large powers having control over the translating of those scrolls.
The only Tablets that even have truth with out tampering are the Sumeria Tablets.

I've always believed Jesus was an Essene, it's logical. He certainly wasn't a Christian!! Cos they didn't exist eh? If the wonderful truth ever gets out there's going to be a lotta priests in the dole queue or in soup kitchens. And the Pope and his cronies will have to own up to suppressing the truth under the Vatican for donkey's years. Very sad because there is so much to learn from these writings.

based on the research of Ivan Panin (a Russian jewish mathematician) who discovered that all through the Hebrew text everthing is divisible by seven (7)equally ie the number of letters, the number of words,the number of words beginning with a noun,the number of words beginning with a vowel,and on and on,also the Hebrew alphabet also has a numerical value to each letter,these are also devisible by 7,man cannot reproduce this, not even using the very best and powerful computers we possess.so any scrolls,texts or writings can soon be proved to be genuine relating to the bible all you have do is,is do the maths.this also applies to the greek alphabet,it too has numerical values for each letter.so you can prove the bible simply by doing the maths.for a quick example of what I'm saying just read "THE LAST TWELVE VERSES OF MARK-THEIR GENUINESS ESTABLISHED (1910)BY ivan panin.£8-50p from amazon.

Really Chris-so if Jesus wasn't crucified and therefore resurected and this was just a fabrication. Then who did this and why didn't the Jewish leaders who were hell bent on proving Jesus a liar just tell everyone that Jesus wan't murdered. You say as a throw away line that disciples weren't going to allow HIM to be killed. Exactly how were they to accomplish this-when Pilate ordered his death. The Roman killing machine was ruthlessly efficient-how were 11 fisherman going to stop hundreds if not thousands of trained soldiers from killing Jesus.?

The hidden scrolls probably reveal that Jesus wasn't crucified, Judas found a replacement because the disciples weren't going to allow HIM to be killed. His teachings also were hidden away by the politically connected who didn't want to lose their power over the masses. Keep them ignorant, and they'll keep giving the fake priests their money. It's all about the usual corruption...

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April

April Holloway is a Co-Owner, Editor and Writer of Ancient Origins. For privacy reasons, she has previously written on Ancient Origins under the pen name April Holloway, but is now choosing to use her real name, Joanna Gillan.

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