Yes! It was more than 60-years ago when ancient Biblical scrolls were found in the Qumran Caves near the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea Scrolls were the earliest copies of Jewish Biblical texts ever found. Recently (March 2021) archaeologists found pieces of the same scrolls in the Cave of Horror. The cave got it’s mysterious name because of the steep descent into the cave and because nearly 40 skeletons were once found in the cave. The cave lies in a remote canyon, about 25 miles (40KM) south of Jerusalem.
The newly discovered 1,900-year-old parchment fragments bear text from the Book of Nahum and the Book of Zechariah. The text is in Greek, except for the name of God, which is written in Hebrew. Experts believe that the scrolls were hidden in the cave during the Bar Kochba Revolt (132-136AD). In the cave, archaeologists found coins minted by the Jewish rebels of the same period.
At the same excavation site, archaeologists found an ancient basket. The basket was completely intact, and offers insight into the early human way of life, before the discovery of ceramics. The 10,500-year-old basket is probably the oldest ever discovered in the world. There have been other new archaeological discoveries in Israel including an ancient sarcophagus found in the Tel Aviv zoo.
Was a mummified child found in the Israeli desert?
Together with the incredable findings, archaeologists uncovered a partly mummified skeleton of a child, dating back 6,000-years. We can thank the dry desert environment, and remote location in the Judean Desert for the survival of these artifacts.
You can see the Dead Sea Scrolls on display in the Shrine of the Book at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem.
