Paul R. Cheesman and C. There are conflicting accounts of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. He writes as follows:. Scholars will recall that several years ago a shepherd wandering in the Gulf of Aqaba stumbled upon a cave containing several large clay jars and also two tickets to the ice show.
Two years later the jars turned up in a pawnshop in Philadelphia. One year later the shepherd turned up in a pawnshop in Philadelphia and neither was claimed. Archaeologists originally set the date of the scrolls at B. The writing is a mixture of Sumerian, Aramaic, and Babylonian and seems to have been done by either one man over a long period of time, or several men who shared the same suit.
Still, excavationist A. Bauer has noted that even though the fragments seem totally fraudulent, this is probably the greatest archaeological find in history with the exception of the recovery of his cuff links from a tomb in Jerusalem.
I begin with Woody Allen because, when I tell you the real story, you will find it hardly more credible. In this case, the truth is not only stranger than fiction but far more exciting. One youth began throwing rocks into the mouths of caves. Suddenly, what echoed back was the resounding crash of broken pottery.
Thus were discovered the first of the jars containing the Dead Sea Scrolls. Jerusalem became a divided city. Jewish scholars, on the other side of the battle line, had no access to the scrolls.
