Soon more Dead Sea scrolls were found in other caves. The second cave revealed 300 pieces of scrolls. In the fourth cave 15,000 more pieces from 500 different books were found, and in the 11th cave they found the Temple Scroll, which is the longest of scrolls found in Qumran, measuring 8 meters in length!
The Dead Sea scrolls found in the caves of Qumran changed hands between merchants, monks and professors in Israel's neighbouring countries until some of them were bought back by Israel's government in 1955. Most of the scrolls were left in the Rockefeller Museum and only in 1967, after the Six Days War, they were brought to Israel.
Researchers concluded that the scrolls were written by the Judea Desert Cult, or the Essenes, as they are also called, during the time of the Second Temple. The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls is one of the most important archeological, historical and religious find in Israel.
SInce the discovery of the scrolls many archeological diggings were held in the site of Qumran and a lot of findings were discovered, implying of the Jewish way of living during the time of the Second Temple. The ancient stones speak of meeting halls, a kitchen, towers, cemeteries, purification pools and more. All these are a testimonial of the energetic life of the Essenes in Qumran.
Access to the Qumran caves in conventional ways is very difficult and sometimes even impossible. But still it is easy to watch them from afar while walking in the ancient archeological site of Qumran. The most important caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found are few meters away from an amazing point of view of the Qumran canyon and the Dead Sea itself.