Document-Based Questions - Debra J. Housel, M.S. Ed. 2008

The Dead Sea Scrolls
Amazing Discoveries

In 1799, a soldier tore down an old wall in Egypt. There he found the Rosetta Stone. It had the same words written in three languages. People knew how to read Greek, one of the languages. It let them figure out how to read ancient hieroglyphics. It was the most exciting discovery of old writing for almost 150 years.

Then in 1947, a boy was tending his goats in Qumran, Israel, on the shore of the Dead Sea. One goat went missing. He looked for it. He saw a cave and threw a rock inside. He hoped to scare the goat into coming out. Instead he heard pottery breaking. He made a mental note of the location and decided to come back. He had no idea that he was about to make an amazing find.

The boy returned a few days later. In the cave he found seven pottery jars. Each one held a rolled- up scroll wrapped in linen. The scrolls looked ancient. He decided to sell them to an antique dealer in Bethlehem. The dealer sold three to an archaeologist. American collectors bought the other four. Eight years later all of these scrolls were returned to Israel. Scholars from around the world had heard about them. They wanted to study them.

People searched the other caves in the area. They found ten that held 800 more parchment pieces, old cloth, and wood. The documents were found miles apart. They have been carbon dated to different centuries. This means that the scrolls do not come from one source. Scholars have spent years piecing them together and decoding them.

The Dead Sea Scrolls are written in Hebrew and Aramaic. These were the two languages spoken in the region 2,000 years ago. Some of the scrolls had parts of the Old Testament. These texts are 1,000 years older than any known Bible. Other scrolls contain prayers, hymns, and essays. A few are stories, letters, and legal papers. Each one gives information about Jewish life, beliefs, and politics from 200 B.C.E. to 68 C.E.

The scholars handled the Scrolls with great care. Due to their age, they fell apart easily. Most were written on leather or papyrus. One was written on copper. It was too brittle to unroll. It took experts five years to agree on how to open it. At last they used a small saw. They cut it into 23 strips. Each one was a curved half-cylinder. It gave the location of a vast treasure of gold and silver. But experts do not know all of the words that tell where it’s buried. People have searched many spots with no luck. Maybe they’re looking in the wrong places. Or maybe someone found the treasure long ago.

Who wrote these scrolls? Why were they hidden? No one knows. Scholars think that Jews called Essenes spent a lot of time copying religious texts. These people feared a Roman attack. They put the scrolls in jars and hid them. They wanted to keep their history and knowledge safe. Perhaps the Romans killed or enslaved them. If so, no one was left to retrieve the texts. Others say that the Essenes just collected documents. The caves were their library. Perhaps those who hid the scrolls would be glad to know that now they are being shared with the world.

The Dead Sea Scrolls

1. Who probably wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls?

a. Romans

b. Aramaics

c. Egyptians

d. Essenes

2. A boy found the Dead Sea Scrolls when he was looking for

a. his sister during a game of hide and seek.

b. things to sell to American collectors.

c. a missing goat.

d. hidden treasure.

3. The Dead Sea Scroll written on copper tells about

a. ancient Jewish politics.

b. a hidden treasure.

c. Jewish beliefs.

d. how Roman soldiers attacked a village.

4. The Rosetta Stone was found after the Dead Sea Scrolls. True or False? Explain.

5. Look at the Venn diagram. Name the four things that the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Rosetta Stone have in common.

6. Which was the more important discovery: the Dead Sea Scrolls or the Rosetta Stone? Why?