Dead Sea Scrolls

Dead Sea Scrolls

Moses Shapira

Mar 5

The Shapira Fragments

By: Jonathan Klawans

Followers of this blog may have heard that the 19th-century Shapira Affair[1] has resurfaced again. In March, 2021, a biblical scholar at the University of […]

Facsimile of Great Isaiah Scroll

Feb 4

Who Wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls?

By: BAS Staff

A recent computer analysis of handwriting from the Great Isaiah Scroll—one of the longest and best preserved of the Dead Sea Scrolls—found the 54-column text was produced by two different scribes who apparently worked in shifts to complete the task.

IAA operation aerial view. Credit: Guy Fitoussi, Israel Antiquities Authority.

Jan 21

Scrolls Hidden During Bar Kokhba Revolt Discovered

By: Glenn Corbett

The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced in March, 2021 that explorations in the Judean desert south of Jerusalem revealed scores of new scroll fragments hidden […]

Copper Scroll

Dec 19

Dating the Copper Scroll

By: Megan Sauter

In 1952, archaeologists found the Copper Scroll in a cave at the site of Qumran near the Dead Sea. Made of copper, the scroll stood […]

Oct 11

Baffling Burials

By: Marek Dospěl

At Khirbet Qumran, the ancient settlement associated with the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, excavations uncovered a seemingly illogical couple of graves. Among ordinary […]

qumran-calendar-4q324d-sm

Aug 27

Deciphered Dead Sea Scroll Reveals 364-Day Calendar

By: Robin Ngo

Researchers recently deciphered one of the last two remaining Dead Sea Scrolls. Written in code, the scroll describes a 364-day calendar used by the Qumran community that lived in the Judean Desert.

messianic-apocalypse-scroll

Jun 29

The Dead Sea Scrolls and the New Testament

By: Megan Sauter

What do the Dead Sea Scrolls say about Jesus? What do they say about the world in which Jesus lived? In BAR, James C. VanderKam examines the overlap between the Dead Sea Scrolls and the New Testament.

Qumran, Aerial View

May 7

Who Were the Essenes?

By: Biblical Archaeology Society Staff

A recent study has sought to determine by sophisticated methods whether Khirbet Qumran was home to a community of sectarian Jews, the Essenes.

The Masoretic Text and the Dead Sea Scrolls

Apr 25

The Masoretic Text and the Dead Sea Scrolls

By: BAS Staff

Do insights from the Dead Sea Scrolls add to the Masoretic text, and if so, should the original Hebrew Bible text be modified based this information? Scholars from both sides of the divide weigh in on this issue.

biblical Hebrew

Apr 16

What Are the Dead Sea Scrolls?

By: Nathan Steinmeyer and Megan Sauter

The Dead Sea Scrolls are considered by many to be the most significant archaeological find of the 20th century. From 1947 to 1956, thousands of […]