Hebrew University archaeologists have found a new cave that once contained Dead Sea Scrolls.
Fragment of a blank scroll, found in cave Q12, recently discovered at the site of Qumran, in the Judean desert.
"It's stunning! I've been waiting for this news for 20 years! Admits, still in shock, Mireille Belis, historian and archaeologist at the French Biblical and Archaeological School (EBAF) in Jerusalem. News of the discovery of a twelfth "scroll" cave in a cliff west of Qumran in the Judean Desert has indeed left all scholars speechless. Because it is precisely in these caves, located in the West Bank about twelve kilometers south of Jericho, that the famous Dead Sea Scrolls were unearthed between 1947 and 1956. One of the greatest archaeological discoveries of the 20 e century.
Archaeologists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, in Q12, on the cliff of Qumran. ©Casey L. Olsen and Oren Gutfeld
This is The Times of Israel which announced this discovery in its publication of February 8, 2017, this new cavity having just been identified by researchers from the Hebrew University and the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA). Unfortunately, it had already been spotted by looters who emptied it of its contents, as evidenced by two pickaxe handles abandoned on site in the 1950s. must have contained, if not a fragment of parchment. This one appears pristine but should still be subjected to multi-spectral analysis.
The interior of Q12, after the passage of looters during the 20th century. ©Casey L. Olson and Oren Gutfeld.
The origins of the Hebrew Bible
A veritable shambles of broken pottery and remains of textiles were however found, all having served, in antiquity, to wrap and protect these original documents, some of which date back to the origins of the Hebrew Bible and of which Sciences and Future was also echoed in a large file of N°839 published in January 2017. These writings had been hidden during the 1 st century of our era, when the Roman armies of the Emperor Titus (68) had destroyed the Temple of Jerusalem and persecuted the Jewish communities which had thus sheltered their documents considered to be the most precious.
Dubbed "Q12" (for Qumran 12), this new cave was discovered during the current major systematic cave excavation campaign in the Judean Desert (Operation Scroll ). This was launched recently by the Israeli authorities with the aim of thwarting the theft of antiquities and the sale of fragments of original manuscripts, whose prices on the black market can reach one million dollars! These operations, considered as priorities, concern all the regions of the Dead Sea. Among the finds were also flint blades and arrowheads from the Bronze Age (about 7000 years), as well as a fragment of a carnelian seal, proving that at all times, these difficult to access caves on the edge of the Dead Sea, had served as refuges.