Bible and Archaeology Dead Sea Scrolls and Qumran: What We Know
Sep 24, 2025
Dr. Sidnie White Crawford, a leading scholar on the Dead Sea Scrolls, dives into the mysteries of Qumran. She discusses whether the scrolls were intentionally stored in caves or not, and reframes Qumran as an elite, non-public library. Crawford compares it to famed libraries like Alexandria, exploring its communal setup and unique archaeological features that suggest scribal activities. Plus, she highlights how these ancient texts influence our understanding of the Bible's development and how modern technologies are reshaping scroll studies.
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Scope And Nature Of The Scroll Finds
- The Dead Sea Scrolls are a broad manuscript discovery along the western Dead Sea shore spanning multiple sites and languages.
- They date from the 4th century BCE to the 2nd century CE and include Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin texts.
Collections Are Linked But Functionally Different
- The manuscript collections at the five Dead Sea sites are culturally linked but were deposited for different reasons.
- Qumran stands out as an almost entirely religious library unlike the refugee and personal archives at other sites.
Ancient 'Library' Looks Different Than Modern Ones
- Ancient libraries differed from modern public libraries because manuscripts were elite, expensive, and literacy was low.
- Qumran's library-like activity likely reflects elite scribal production within a closed community.
