Qumran Cave 4, viewed from the northeast. Photograph by Todd Bolen.
Qumran is located in the West Bank, near the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea. The site has a long history of settlement but is best known as the location of the parchment scrolls and fragments called the Dead Sea Scrolls, which were discovered in a series of caves between 1947 and 1956. The scrolls include parts of almost all of the books of the Hebrew Bible, along with many other ancient %%writings. Some scholars propose that the site was a settlement of a Jewish sect called the Essenes, mentioned by some ancient historians. Cave 4 contained the most significant finds, numbering several hundred scrolls.
