Category:Qumran Studies--1940s

The two Bedouin shepherds credited for the discovery of the first Dead Sea Scrolls in Cave 1

The Syrian Metropolitan Archbishop, who purchased four of the seven scrolls from Cave 1

Israeli archaeologist, Eliezer Sukenik, who purchased three of the seven scrolls from Cave 1

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Qumran Studies in the 1940s--Works and Authors

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Overview

The initial discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls took place between November 1946 and February 1947. Two Bedouin shepherds discovered seven scrolls housed in jars in a cave now known as Cave 1, on the northern shore of the Dead Sea, near the Qumran site. These scrolls were later identified as the complete Isaiah Scroll, the Community Rule, the Pesher Habakkuk, a second Isaiah Scroll, the War Scroll, the Thanksgiving Hymns, and the Genesis Apocryphon.

For some time the Bedouin kept the scrolls in their tents, later they contacted some antiquities dealers in Bethlehem in the hope of selling the manuscripts, but without success. Eventually the manuscripts were purchased by a Syrian Orthodox cobbler, Khalil Iksander Shahin, nichnamed Kando. Kando sold four manuscripts to the Syrian metropolitan archbishop of Jerusalem, Mar Athanasius Yeshua Samuel (i.e. the complete Isaiah Scroll, the Community Rule, the Pesher Habakkuk, and the Genesis Apocryphon). The remaining three mss (i.e. the Thanksgiving Hymns, the War Scroll, and then the second Isaiah Scroll) were purchased by Israeli archaeologist Eleazar Sukenik in Nov-Dec 1947 with funds from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

In the last week of July 1947, the Syrian Archbishop contacted Profs. Sebastianus Marmardji and Johannes van der Ploeg at the Ecole Biblique and Archeologique Francaise de Jerusalem. They identified among the scrolls a copy of Isaiah and a commentary on Habakkuk, but concluded that they were late medieval manuscripts. The Syrian Archbishop then contacted in mid-February 1948 the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR). Realizing the antiquity of the scrolls and the importance of the discovery, John C. Trever on 21 February 1948 photographed, both on black-and-white and standard color film, three of the scrolls (i.e. the complete Isaiah Scroll, the Community Rule, and the Pesher Habakkuk; the Genesis Apocryphon was too fragile to be unrolled). Trever immediately called back from Amman, Jordan the head of ASOR, Millar Burrows, and another American young researcher at ASOR William H. Brownlee. On 11 April 1948, Burrows announced to the scholarly community the discovery of the scrolls in a general press release. They also convinced the Metropolitan archbishop to leave for New York with the four scrolls in his possession.

At the end of 1948, the government of Jordan finally gave permission to the Arab Legion to search the area where the original Qumran cave was thought to be. Consequently, Cave 1 was identified on 28 January 1949, by Belgian United Nations observer Captain Phillipe Lippens and Arab Legion Captain Akkash el-Zebn. A preliminary excavation of the Cave was conducted from 15 February to 5 March 1949 by the Jordanian Department of Antiquities in collaboration with the Ecole Biblique et Archeologique, under the direction of Gerald Lankester Harding and Roland de Vaux. Additional Dead Sea Scroll fragments, linen cloth, jars, and other artifacts were recovered.

The first scholarly reports were published by Eleazar Sukenik and Gerald Lankester Harding.