Qumran

The Dead Sea Scrolls on display in a shrine. They were first discovered in 1947, in caves at Qumran, Jordan. The text of the scrolls is published on the Internet for public use.

Archaeological site in Jordan, excavated from 1951, in the foothills northwest of the Dead Sea. Originally an Iron Age fort (6th century BC), it was occupied in the late 2nd century BC by a monastic community, the Essenes, until the buildings were burned by Romans in AD 68. The monastery library once contained the Dead Sea Scrolls, which had been hidden in caves for safekeeping and were discovered in 1947.