Biblical scholars have now had 60 years to research the scrolls hidden in caves close to the Dead Sea Qumran settlement. The question of which Jews lived there 2,000 years ago is still the subject of controversy.
Ever since early 1947, when three Ta’amireh Beduin discovered large clay jars containing ancient scrolls in a cave close to the ruins of an abandoned settlement at Khirbet Qumran, the 150-year-old field of scientific biblical research sought to re-examine all the accumulated knowledge in light of these new findings. In 1952, Beduin discovered another cave with a number of additional texts, and in 1956 they found cave 11.
Israel was fortunate to purchase some of the scrolls and bring them to Jerusalem through the efforts of Prof. Eliezer Sukenik of the Hebrew University and his son, Yigael Yadin. For the past 60 years these 2,000-year-old scrolls have been studied by scholars, and have...