Where is wadi qumran

Neither its physical authenticity nor its integrity have been compromised in any significant way though the modern visitor reception facilities and car park are too close to the main site according to the precepts of heritage contemporary management. The site, however, now lacks those very written documents, the scrolls, which make it of world significance: they are largely in Jerusalem, with important parts of the archives elsewhere in the world.

This action was necessary to prevent further illicit dispersal of the mosaics in the s and did not prevent the churches collectively becoming a World Heritage site in the s. Qumran really is unique in many aspects: merely as an archaeological site, it might be compared in general appearance with many others, but its particular characteristics as the home and work-place of an otherwise unknown ascetic, pre-Christian community make it without peer.

Similarly, as the place where the oldest surviving manuscripts of the Bible were written and, years later, found, it has no comparison. About us. Special themes. Major programmes. For the Press. Help preserve sites now! Join the , Members. Search Advanced. Criteria Criteria: with only with. Cultural Criteria: i ii iii iv v vi Natural Criteria: vii viii ix x. Fountains of blazing loam, then forced retreat—the blasted ground left no remains of site-map to be guessed.

Great Aztec wheels; Lascaux red bulls; dried funeral garlands of Neanderthals: all brought to light by restless chance—a dropped hoe or a wandering goat. Vast evidence unknown, we stand on ranks of shoulders buried deep in earth a fragmentary tune, made by the breeze against a bone protruding from a crumbled canyon wall.

Get smart. Sign up for our email newsletter. Sign Up. Support science journalism. Knowledge awaits. See Subscription Options Already a subscriber? Create Account See Subscription Options. It was during the Hellenistic Period that the Essenes Jewish sect settled here, isolating themselves from big city life and living as a communal monastery-like community.

The sect is thought to have eaten communal meals, studied sacred scriptures for most of the night, taken a daily ritual bath, practice celibacy and they had their own calendar. It is thought that about people once lived here. In later periods of history there were Arab settlements here and during the Bar Kokhba Revolution the rebels may have taken refuge here.

In local Bedouins discovered a clay jar containing 7 scrolls in a cave about 1. The ancient scrolls were sold to antique dealers and after changing hands several times they reached scholars who could accurately evaluate the age and value of the parchments. Further exploration uncovered a total of texts including the oldest known existing copy of the Old Testament. The texts are written in Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek and Nabataen.