Dead Sea Scrolls

First discovered in 1946 by a Bedouin shepherd, the Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of ancient documents and parchment fragments found in the Qumran caves on the coast of the Dead Sea in Israel. Since the scrolls date from the third to first century B.C.E., they provide a unique snapshot of the religious landscape of Early Judaism and help to verify the accurate transmission of the Old Testament Scriptures.