Dead Sea Scrolls

The oldest known manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible/Literature & Writing

The Dead Sea Scrolls are approximately 981 manuscripts discovered between 1947 and 1956 in caves near the Dead Sea. They date from the 3rd century BCE to the 1st century CE and include the oldest known copies of books of the Hebrew Bible. The Great Isaiah Scroll is 7.34 meters long. The scrolls were preserved by the extreme dryness of the Judean desert caves.