What are the Dead Sea Scrolls? Where Were They Found? Maps of Qumran Area Who Wrote the Scrolls? What is BYU's Involvement? What is FARMS? What is CPART? Article - LDS Perspectives on the Dead Sea Scrolls The Book- LDS Perspectives on the Dead Sea Scrolls Video Highlights and Offer

Where Were the Dead Sea Scrolls Found?

See maps of Qumran area

The Dead Sea Scrolls were found in caves that run along the shores of the Dead Sea. It is a barren wilderness where life has always had a tenuous foothold. The lowest place on Earth, at 1,300 feet (400 meters) below Sea Level, the Dead Sea has a salt content 7 to 8 times that of the world's oceans and it evaporates at a rate of 55 inches a year, often creating a thick, heavy stench in the air.

Less than 2 inches of rain falls on this desolate land in any given year. Temperatures hover above 100 degrees Fahrenheit for days on end during the long summer.

The ruins at Khirbet Qumran

The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in 11 caves. Those caves are geologically of two kinds; five of the caves are natural cavities in the hard limestone cliffs, in the dolomite. They, of course, are natural caves. The other six caves are artificial caves which were dug in soft marl.

Close to the caves in which the scrolls were found are ruins that are known as Khirbet Qumran. The site had been surveyed briefly between 1941 and 1946, but the discovery of the scrolls called for a more thorough examination of the site.

Part of the elaborate water system at Qumran.

Between 1951 and 1956, Roland de Vaux excavated the site and created a survey report that still stands as the major work done on the site to this date. The most active period of occupation at Khirbet Qumran was during the years 134 BC to 31 AD. This is the period when the inhabitants built the structure that we see remaining today.

The site was a complex that included a tower, a scriptorium, kitchen, laundry, potters kilns, meeting hall, pantry, large cisterns, and an elaborate water system that that was fed by an aqueduct that captured water from the surrounding hills. Coins, linen, and pottery artifacts found at the site were used in assessing the date of the site.

A cistern used for ritual bathing.

The elaborate water system was used to fill a number of cisterns at Qumran. The members of the community would come in from the fields at the fifth hour of every day and ritually cleanse themselves before taking part in a communal meal. Ritual bathing at Qumran was an important part of their day and has been construed by some to foreshadow the later Christian ritual of baptism. It is important to understand, however, that the members of the community were Jews, adhering to a strict observance of the Mosaic tradition. They did not recognize Christ as a Messiah, although they lived in a world that knew of him and his teachings.