Qumran

Qumran is not a biblical site. It is known mostly for the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. For that reason alone, it is worth a visit when you go to the Holy Land. 

The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls ranks as one of the most prominent archaeological events of the twentieth century. Because of their unearthing, we now know more about the Essenes than any other Jewish group of the Second Temple period.

Bedouin shepherds discovered the first seven scrolls in 1947. Since that time over 700 manuscripts have been found in eleven caves surrounding Khirbet Qumran, the site of an abandoned community located 10 miles south of Jericho on the northwestern corner of the Dead Sea. It provided a perfect location for the isolationist sect of the Essenes to live. 

Requiring vast amounts of water for their daily purification rites, the Essenes had to channel the water from the wadi during the infrequent winter storms. A dam helped to divert the water into an aqueduct, which led to the site that in turn had dozens of cisterns—mikvot and pools. 

On the basis of inkwells and writing benches discovered there, archaeologists have suggested that the second story room of a building was the place where the scrolls were copied.

No scrolls were found in this room or in the ruins of the site itself. But the same type of unique pottery was found both on site and in the caves with the scrolls, helping to connect the two.