dead sea scrolls in Qumran archeological ancient village

When the sun sets upon the Judean Desert mountains, the black veil of the night rises above the Dead Sea and the National Reserve of Qumran, where the story of the Dead Sea Scrolls, are revealed in the desert morning light.

The year 1947 was an important year to the Jewish people. In New York, the United Nations approved the plans to build the state of Israel and declared the end of the British Mandate. In the same year, far away from the United States, deep in the desert of Judea, a young Bedouin shepherd is searching for a lost sheep. Throwing small stones into caves to make the sheep get out of the dark caves, he suddenly hears the noise of breaking ceramics from one of the them. Entering the cave he finds some ceramic vases hiding three scrolls inside of them. Immediately more Bedouins came to the area of Qumran and started looking for more caves and scrolls.

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.

The most enjoyable way to travel in the Qumran area is by rappelling the amazing dry waterfalls of the Qumran Canyon. This is also a different way to view the caves from another angle most people don't see.

Trekking through the desert will lead you to the first waterfall where you will start to rappel through the canyon while watching the Dead Sea from above and enjoying the peaceful quietude of the Judean Desert. After floods crystal clear pools are formed at the bottom of each waterfall, making the rappel even more adventurous and fun! Between one rappel to another you will enjoy the tasty coffee or tea both made in the Bedouin style.

So are you ready for adventure? Contact us now!