Qumran

Qumran is an archaeological site on the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea, near caves where ancient Jewish scrolls were discovered. Its settlement remains are often discussed in connection with the people who produced or collected the scrolls.

Dead Sea Scrolls: A collection of ancient Jewish manuscripts discovered near the Dead Sea, chiefly between 1947 and 1956. The nearby caves yielded many of the manuscripts associated with Qumran.
Essene hypothesis: The theory that the Qumran settlement was inhabited by members of the ancient Jewish group known as the Essenes. It links the site’s remains and scrolls to one named Jewish community.
Khirbet Qumran: The Arabic name for the ruins of the settlement now commonly called Qumran. The name appears in archaeological and historical descriptions of the ruins.
Dead Sea: A hypersaline lake bordered by Jordan, Israel, and the West Bank. Qumran stands on its northwestern shore.
Textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible: The study of variations among manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible to reconstruct and understand its textual history. The Qumran biblical manuscripts revealed textual forms absent from later standard copies.
Qumran Caves: A group of caves near Qumran where ancient manuscripts and other archaeological evidence were found. Their deposits made the site central to the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Qumran–Essene theory: The scholarly model connecting Qumran, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the Essenes described by ancient writers. It is the best-known interpretation of how the site and manuscripts relate.
Hasmonean dynasty: A Jewish ruling dynasty that governed Judea from the second to the first century BCE. The settlement’s earliest phases are generally placed in the Hasmonean period.
Judean Desert: A dry region east of the Judean highlands, extending toward the Dead Sea. Its rugged terrain contains the caves surrounding Qumran.
Biblical archaeology: The archaeological study of places and material culture related to the Bible and its historical settings. Qumran became a prominent site in debates about archaeology and biblical history.

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