Israel Announces Discovery of more Dead Sea Scrolls
2021-03-18
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1Israeli archaeologists said they have discovered about 80 new pieces of ancient writings known as Dead Sea Scrolls in a desert cave south of Jerusalem.
2The writings are the first new scrolls to be found in 60 years.
3The writings are religious in nature.
4They have lines written in Greek.
5They are believed to have been hidden during a Jewish revolt against the Romans nearly 1,900 years ago.
6The Israel Antiquities Authority says, based on the writing style, they likely come from the first century.
7The new discovery adds to a larger group of Dead Sea Scrolls - a collection of Jewish writings first found in desert caves in the West Bank near Qumran in the 1940s and 1950s.
8Some of the scrolls date to over two thousand years ago.
9They include the earliest known copies of biblical writings and documents explaining the beliefs of a little understood Jewish group.
10The roughly 80 new pieces were found in a place known as the "Cave of Horror."
11It has the name because 40 human skeletons were found there during digs in the 1960s.
12The cave is about 40 kilometers south of Jerusalem.
13The scrolls were found during an operation by the Israel Antiquities Authority.
14The goal was to find scrolls and other ancient objects to prevent possible stealing.
15The writings are believed to have been part of a scroll put in the cave during the Bar Kochba Revolt.
16This was an armed Jewish revolt against Rome during the time of Emperor Hadrian in the years between 132 and 136.
17Oren Ableman is a Dead Sea Scroll researcher with the Israel Antiquities Authority.
18He noted a difference between the newly discovered writings and other known writings in Hebrew and Greek.
19Joe Uziel is head of the Authority's Dead Sea Scrolls group.
20He said "some of those differences are important."
21Uziel added, "Every little piece of information that we can add, we can understand a little bit better" how the biblical writing came into its traditional Hebrew form.
22In 1961, Israeli archaeologist Yohanan Aharoni led a dig in the "Cave of Horror."
23His team found nine pieces of writing belonging to a scroll written in Greek.
24Since then, no writings have been found during archaeological digs.
25But many have been sold in illegal markets.
26They were apparently taken from the caves.
27For the past four years, Israeli archeologists have launched a major campaign to examine caves in the Judean Desert.
28The aim is to find ancient objects before people damage the area, destroying important information in search of objects to be sold illegally.
29The authority said since the beginning of the operation in 2017, there have been almost no antiquities stolen in the Judean Desert.
30I'm John Russell.
1Israeli archaeologists said they have discovered about 80 new pieces of ancient writings known as Dead Sea Scrolls in a desert cave south of Jerusalem. 2The writings are the first new scrolls to be found in 60 years. The writings are religious in nature. They have lines written in Greek. They are believed to have been hidden during a Jewish revolt against the Romans nearly 1,900 years ago. 3The Israel Antiquities Authority says, based on the writing style, they likely come from the first century. 4The new discovery adds to a larger group of Dead Sea Scrolls - a collection of Jewish writings first found in desert caves in the West Bank near Qumran in the 1940s and 1950s. 5Some of the scrolls date to over two thousand years ago. They include the earliest known copies of biblical writings and documents explaining the beliefs of a little understood Jewish group. 6The roughly 80 new pieces were found in a place known as the "Cave of Horror." It has the name because 40 human skeletons were found there during digs in the 1960s. The cave is about 40 kilometers south of Jerusalem. 7The scrolls were found during an operation by the Israel Antiquities Authority. The goal was to find scrolls and other ancient objects to prevent possible stealing. 8The writings are believed to have been part of a scroll put in the cave during the Bar Kochba Revolt. This was an armed Jewish revolt against Rome during the time of Emperor Hadrian in the years between 132 and 136. 9Oren Ableman is a Dead Sea Scroll researcher with the Israel Antiquities Authority. He noted a difference between the newly discovered writings and other known writings in Hebrew and Greek. 10Joe Uziel is head of the Authority's Dead Sea Scrolls group. He said "some of those differences are important." Uziel added, "Every little piece of information that we can add, we can understand a little bit better" how the biblical writing came into its traditional Hebrew form. 11In 1961, Israeli archaeologist Yohanan Aharoni led a dig in the "Cave of Horror." His team found nine pieces of writing belonging to a scroll written in Greek. 12Since then, no writings have been found during archaeological digs. But many have been sold in illegal markets. They were apparently taken from the caves. 13For the past four years, Israeli archeologists have launched a major campaign to examine caves in the Judean Desert. The aim is to find ancient objects before people damage the area, destroying important information in search of objects to be sold illegally. 14The authority said since the beginning of the operation in 2017, there have been almost no antiquities stolen in the Judean Desert. 15I'm John Russell. 16Ilan Ben Zion reported on this story for Reuters. John Russell adapted it for Learning English. Hai Do was the editor. 17_____________________________________________________________ 18Words in This Story 19archaeologist - n. a science that deals with past human life and activities by studying the bones, tools, etc., of ancient people 20scroll -- n. a long piece of paper that rolls around one or two cylinders and that usually has something written or drawn on it 21antiquities - plural n. objects from ancient times 22biblical -- adj. relating to, taken from, or found in the Bible