60 years later, remains of the scrolls were discovered buried in another cave in the Judean desert

Dr. Oren Gutfeld from the Hebrew University: "This is one of the most exciting and important archaeological discoveries in the last 60 years in the Qumran caves"

In an archaeological dig in a natural cave in the Cliff of the Copies in the Qumran area, many findings were found that indicate for the first time that scrolls from the Second Temple period were buried in the cave, which were apparently looted in the 50s. These findings confirm that this is the 12th cave in which scrolls were buried, and not 11 as was commonly thought until now.

The excavation in the cave was managed by Dr. Oren Gutfeld with the assistance of Achaied Ovadia from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, with the assistance of Dr. Randall Price and students from Liberty University in Virginia, USA, and with the help of Hanania Hizami, an archeology staff officer in the Civil Administration, the Nature and Parks Authority and the Israel the antiquities.

The cave was found in the early 90s during an extensive archaeological survey conducted by the Antiquities Authority called "Operation Megillah" and its goal was to locate more scrolls in caves in the Qumran area of ​​the Judean Desert.

The robbery of the scrolls in the Qumran caves began in 1947, when the first scrolls were found. Only later, in the early 50s and in a hopeless race against the Bedouins, archaeological surveys and excavations were conducted in Qumran and 11 caves near the site, organized by Roland de Voe from the French Bible School in Jerusalem and Gerald Harding, the director of the Jordanian Antiquities Division at the time. Since then, individual remains of scrolls have been found in organized archaeological excavations.

The current excavation in the cave was conducted during the month of January 2017. It is a relatively small cave (about 5 x 3.5 m) in the southern wall of which there is an opening to a narrow tunnel, the length of which at the end of the excavation reached a length of about 14 m. The finds from the surface of the cave are from the Second Temple period and contained pottery fragments of jugs and bowls that were used as lids for jugs, but mainly many organic finds that were well preserved due to the dry climate in the area. Among the organic finds were dozens of olive pits, date pits, nuts of various types, including whole nuts that had not yet been cracked, several thin ropes, sections of basket weaves and several woven fabrics. In the entire area of ​​the cave, a bed made of palm saplings and thin branches of bushes was discovered, which were used as a kind of mat by the inhabitants of the cave in the days of the Second Temple. With the removal of the layer of life from the Second Temple period, findings from the Chalcolithic (5th millennium BC) and the ceramic and pre-ceramic Neolithic (9th-8th millennium BC) periods were discovered, mainly pottery and flint tools including arrowheads, various blades and a complete seal made of red carnelian stone.

"On the eastern side of the cave, a small alcove was seen, which a large rock prevented from being dug into. At first, the excavators assumed that the rock fell there during a collapse, but when the rock was broken and removed, it became clear that it was deliberately placed on the wall to block the opening. In the excavation behind the stone, a large pottery jar from the Second Temple period was discovered, broken into large fragments, but archaeologically intact."

From the fragments of the jug, a piece of leather rolled about three times was rolled out. The find was sensational since no new evidence of scrolls has been found inside jars for over 60 years (And even then most of the scrolls were found outside the jars and not inside them). The rolled piece of skin was collected very carefully and transferred to the conservation laboratory at the Institute of Archeology at the Hebrew University. In coordination with the Antiquities Authority, the scroll was transferred from the Institute to the Scroll Conservation Laboratory of the Antiquities Authority in Jerusalem. The examination revealed that the scroll remained empty and that it was a rolled piece of leather that was apparently in the process of being processed for writing.

In addition, in the excavation of the narrow and dark tunnel in the back wall of the cave, similar to the find in the cave itself, large amounts of organic finds and fragments of jars and jar lids made of pottery were discovered. In the center of the tunnel, hidden under a rock ledge that made it very difficult to dig in place, Three large jars were discovered broken into large pieces and fragments of lids that were undoubtedly used to bury scrolls. Next to them were found pieces of cloth that apparently wrapped the scrolls and a long leather strip that was also used to tie one of the scrolls. To our great regret, in a nearby alcove, two makoshes were found that were used by the Bedouin to rob the scrolls from the jars 60 years ago.

Dr. Oren Gutfeld, archaeologist and director of the excavation from the Hebrew University, "This is one of the most exciting and important archaeological discoveries in the last 60 years in the Qumran caves. These findings prove beyond any doubt that this is the 12th cave in which two scrolls were buried during the Temple period that were unfortunately looted by the Bedouin in the late 40's and 50's. These important and fascinating findings illustrate the need to advance the operation for a systematic survey and excavation of some of the caves in the Judean Desert."

According to Israel Hasson, director of the Antiquities Authority, "The important discovery of another scroll cave indicates that much work remains in the desert and findings of tremendous importance are still waiting to be discovered. We are in a race against time against the antiquities pirates, who are robbing all of our world heritage assets for money. The state must mobilize and allocate the necessary resources to embark on a historic operation, together with the public, and systematically excavate all the caves in the Judean Desert."