Members of an ancient religious community hid away in eleven caves their precious scrolls. The scrolls remained undisturbed for almost 2000 years.

In 1948 a young Bedouin shepherd, Muhammad Edh-Dhib, discovered the scrolls in earthen jars, in cave one.
Hundreds of leathern fragments in addition to seven scrolls were found in the cave.

a complete Isaiah manuscript
the commentary of Habakkuk
Manues of Discipline or Community Rule

Between 1951 and 1956 ten other caves were discovered.
Two yielded sussbantial quantities of material.
According to carbon dating, textual analysis, and handwriting analysis the documents were written at various times between the middle of the 2nd century BC and the 1st century AD. At least one document has a carbon date range of 21 BC­AD 61.

Thousands and thousands of fragments were found in Cave four.

Cave eleven yielded several scrolls including the longest one, The Temple Scroll.

The Essenes are well known from the first century writings of Philo, Josephus and Pliny the Elder
Philo of Alexandria (born in Alexandria in 20 BC and died about 60 AD; probably an Essenian Jew himself
Pliny was a Roman naturalist who wrote in about 70 AD, after the destruction of Judaea by the Romans

To arrive at a better understanding of the Essenes, the start must be made from the Hasidim of the pre-Maccabean time (I Macc. ii. 42, vii. 13; II Macc. xiv. 6), of whom both the Pharisees and the Essenes are offshoots (Wellhausen, "Israelitische und Jüdische Geschichte," 1894, p. 261).

Little is known about the organization of the ancient Hasidim; but each initiate had to be admitted by certain rites to membership in the association ("heber" or "haburah"), receiving the name "haber" from (Dem. ii. 3; Tosef., Dem. ii. 2; Bek. 30b); those assembled, not only for worship but also for meals. (Geiger," Urschrift," pp. 122 et seq.).
A remnant of this Hasidean brotherhood seems to have been the "Nekiyye ha-Da'at" (the pure-minded) of Jerusalem, who would neither sit at the table or in court, nor sign a document, with persons not of their own circle (Git. ix. 8; Sanh. 23a). They paid special reverence to the scroll of the Law in the synagogue. (Masseket Soferim, xiv. 14).
But tradition has preserved certain peculiarities of these "ancient Hasidim" (Hasidim ha-rishonim) which cast some light on their mode of life:
(1) In order to render their prayer a real communion with God as their Father in heaven, they spent an hour in silent meditation before offering their morning prayer (Didascalia in Jew. Encyc. iv. 593), and neither the duty of saluting the king nor imminent peril, as, for instance, from a serpent close to their heels, could cause them to interrupt their prayer (Ber. v. 1; Tosef., Ber. iii. 20; Ber. 32b).
(2) They were so scrupulous regarding the observance of the Sabbath that they refrained from sexual intercourse on all days of the week except Wednesday, lest in accordance with their singular calculation of the time of pregnancy the birth of a child might take place on a Sabbath and thereby cause the violation of the sacred day (Niddah 38a, b). Peril of life could not induce them to wage even a war of defense on the Sabbath (I Macc. ii. 38; II Macc. v. 25, xv. 4).
(3) They guarded against the very possibility of being the indirect cause of injuring their fellow men through carelessness (Tosef., B. K. ii. 6; B. K. 30a, 50b; comp. Git. 7a: "No injury is ever caused through the righteous").
(4) Their scrupulousness concerning "zizit" (Men. 40b) is probably only one instance of their strict observance of all the commandments.
(5) Through their solicitude to avoid sin (whence also their name "Yire'e Het" = "fearers of sin": Shek. vi. 6; Sotah ix. 15) they had no occasion for bringing sin-offerings, wherefore, according to R. Judah, they made Nazarite vows to enable them to bring offerings of their own; according to R. Simeon, however, they refrained from bringing such offerings, as they were understood by them to be "an atoning sacrifice for the sins committed against the soul" (Num. vi. 11, Hebr.). This Nazarite vow seems to have been the prevailing attitude, as it was shared by Simeon the Just (Sifre, Num. 22; Ned. 10a).
(6) Especially rigorous were they in regard to Levitical purity ('Eduy. viii. 4; Tosef., Oh. iv. 6, 13, where "zekenim ha-rishonim" [the ancient elders] is only another name for "Hasidim ha-rishonim"; see Weiss, "Dor," i. 110)
(7) They were particularly careful that women of the Order in the menstrual state should keep apart from the household, perform no household duties, and avoid attractiveness in appearance (Sifra, Mezora', end; Shab. 64b; Ab. R. N. ii.; "Baraita di Masseket Niddah," in Horowitz's "Uralte Tosefta," 1890, i. 5, p. 16, iii. 2-3, pp. 24-27; "Pithe Niddah," pp. 54 et seq.).
This, however, forms only part of the general Hasidean rule, which was to observe the same degree of Levitical purity as did the priest who partook of the holy things of the Temple. ("okel hullin be-tohorat kodesh").
http://www.thenazareneway.com/origin_of_the_essenes.htm


The Essenes considered themselves to be a separate people and led a very ascetic lifestyle. Some have even speculated that perhaps John the Baptist was a member of the community.
The Essenes, as they appear in history, were far from being either philosophers or recluses. They were, says Josephus ("Ant." xv. 10, §§ 4-5), regarded by King Herod as endowed with higher powers, and their principle of avoiding taking an oath was not infringed upon.

Pliny the Elder in his "Natural History" actually located a group of Essenes on the western shore of the Dead Sea, somewhere above the town of EnGedi.

By the western shores [of the Dead Sea], but away from their harmful effects, live a solitary people, the Essenes, wonderful besides all others in the world, being without any women and renouncing all sexual desire, having no money, and with only palm trees as companions. Their assembly is born again day by day from the multitudes, tired of life and the vicissitudes of fortune, that crowd thither for their manner of living. So, for thousands of ages—strange to say—a people, in which no one is born, is eternal, so fruitful for them is the repentance of others for their life! Lying below (infra) these was the town of En Gedi, once second only to Jerusalem in fertility and groves of palm trees, but now like the other, a ruin. After that (inde), Masada, a castle on a crag, itself not far from the Dead Sea, is the end of Judaea.
Natural History 5:18:73


Most Essenes did not marry and lived in isolation
According to Josephus, the Essenes were one of the three main sects of the Jews Second Temple Palestine, the others being the Pharisees and the Sadducees.
One of the msot striking characteristics of this group was their communal life. Those who joined the group were first put through a probationary memebership. After proving themselves, they were allowed to become full participants upon taking vows of piety and secrecy.

They pooled their resources and members of the sect worshipped and dined together, and placed themselves under the discipline of the elected officers of the group.
According to Josephus and Philo the main occupation of the Essenes was agriculture.

Philo states that the Essenes avoided all commerce. They owned no slaves and they were stricter in Sabbath observance, in avoidance of oaths, and in maintenance of ritual purity than the other sects.

Contentment of mind they regarded as the greatest of riches. They make no instruments of war. They repudiate every inducement to covetousness. None are held as slaves, but all are free, and serve each other. They are instructed in piety and holiness, righteousness, economy, etc. They are guided by a threefold rule: love of God, love of virtue, and love of mankind. Of their love of God they give innumerable demonstrations, which is found in their constant and unalterable holiness throughout the whole of their lives, their avoidance of oaths and falsehoods, and their firm belief that God is the source of all good, but of nothing evil. Of their love of virtue they give proof in their contempt for money, fame, and pleasures, their continence, easy satisfying of their wants, their simplicity, modesty, etc. Their love of man is proved by their benevolence and equality, and their having all things in common, which is beyond all deception. They reverence and take care of the aged, as children do their parents. They do not lay up treasures of gold or silver but provide themselves only with the necessities of life.

Philo: Every Virtuous Man is Free 12:75

Palestine and Syria too are not barren of exemplary wisdom and virtue, which countries no slight portion of that most populous nation of the Jews inhabits. There is a portion of those people called Essenes, in number somewhat more than four thousand in my opinion, who derive their name from their piety, though not according to any accurate form of the Greek dialect, because they are above all men devoted to the service of God, not sacrificing living animals, but studying rather to preserve their own minds in a state of holiness and purity.
These men, in the first place, live in villages, avoiding all cities on account of the habitual lawlessness of those who inhabit them, well knowing that such a moral disease is contracted from the associations with wicked men, just as a real disease might be from an impure atmosphere, and that this would stamp an incurable evil on their souls. Of these men, some cultivating the earth, and others devoting themselves to those arts which are the result of peace, benefit both themselves and all those who come into contact with them, not storing up treasures of silver and of gold, nor acquiring vast sections of the earth out of a desire for ample revenues, but providing all things which are requisite for the natural purpose of life.
For they alone of almost all men having been originally poor and destitute, and that too rather from their own habits and ways of life than from any real deficiency of good fortune, are nevertheless accounted very rich, judging contentment and frugality to be in great abundance, as in truth they are.
Among those men you will find no makers of arrows, or javelins, or swords, or helmets, or breastplates, or shields, no makers of arms or any employment whatever connected with war, or even to any of those occupations even in peace which are easily perverted to wicked purposes, for they are utterly ignorant of all traffic, and of all commercial dealings, and of all navigation, but they repudiate and keep aloof from everything which can possibly afford any inducement to covetousness.
Least of all is a single slave found among them, but they are all free, aiding one another with a reciprocal interchange of good offices, and they condemn masters, not only as unjust, inasmuch as they corrupt the very principles of equality, but likewise as impious, because they destroy the laws of nature, which generated them all equally, and brought them up like a mother, as if they were legitimate brethren, not in name only, but in reality and truth. But in their view this natural relationship of all men to one another has been thrown into disorder by designing covetousness, continually wishing to surpass others in good fortune, and which has therefore engendered alienation instead of affection, and hatred instread of friendship.

Josephus describes their religious beliefs in his "Antiquities."
Josephus suggests he was initiated into the Essene brotherhood so one assumes he knows what he is talking about.
He agreed that the Essenes, all Jews by birth, did not marry though they were not against marriage in principle—they realized it was necessary for the continuation of mankind—but propagated the sect by adopting other people's children. Another order of Essenes accepted marriage though maintaining strict rules about intercourse. There were about 4000 Essenes altogether, constituting a closely knit brotherhood with similarities to the Pythagoreans, devotees of Orpheus. They regarded pleasure as evil and disciplined themselves in continence and self control.

Josephus: Antiquities (Whiston) 18:1:2

2. The Jews had for a great while had three sects of philosophy peculiar to themselves, the sect of the Essens, and the sect of the Sadducees, and the third sort of opinions was that of those called Pharisees, of which sects, although I have already spoken in the second book of the Jewish War, yet will I a little touch upon them now.
5. The doctrine of the Essens is this: That all things are best ascribed to God. They teach the immortality of souls, and esteem that the rewards of righteousness are to be earnestly striven for. And when they send what they have dedicated to God into the temple, they do not offer sacrifices because they have more pure lustrations of their own. On which account they are excluded from the common court of the temple, but offer their sacrifices themselves. Yet is their course of life better than that of other men, and they entirely addict themselves to husbandry. It also deserves our admiration, how much they exceed all other men that addict themselves to virtue, and this in righteousness, and indeed to such a degree, that as it hath never appeared among any other men, neither Greeks nor barbarians, no, not for a little time, so hath it endured a long while among them. This is demonstrated by that institution of theirs, which will not suffer any thing to hinder them from having all things in common, so that a rich man enjoys no more of his own wealth than he who hath nothing at all. There are about four thousand men that live in this way, and neither marry wives, nor are desirous to keep servants, as thinking the latter tempts men to be unjust, and the former gives the handle to domestic quarrels, but as they live by themselves, they minister one to another. They also appoint certain stewards to receive the incomes of their revenues, and of the fruits of the ground; such as are good men and priests, who are to get their corn and their food ready for them. They none of them differ from others of the Essens in their way of living, but do the most resemble those Dacae who are called Polistae.
Polistae are those who dwell in cities.

Josephus: Jewish War (Whiston) 2:8:2-13

2. For there are three philosophical sects among the Jews. The followers of the first of which are the Pharisees, of the second, the Sadducees, and the third sect, which pretends to a severer discipline, are called Essens. These last are Jews by birth, and seem to have a greater affection for one another than the other sects have. These Essens reject pleasures as an evil, but esteem continence, and the conquest over our passions, to be virtue. They neglect wedlock, but choose out other persons children, while they are pliable, and fit for learning, and esteem them to be of their kindred, and form them according to their own manners. They do not absolutely deny the fitness of marriage, and the succession of mankind thereby continued, but they guard against the lascivious behavior of women, and are persuaded that none of them preserve their fidelity to one man.
3. These men are despisers of riches, and so very communicative as raises our admiration. Nor is there any one to be found among them who hath more than another; for it is a law among them, that those who come to them must let what they have be common to the whole order, — insomuch that among them all there is no appearance of poverty, or excess of riches, but every one's possessions are intermingled with every other's possessions, and so there is, as it were, one patrimony among all the brethren. They think that oil is a defilement, and if any one of them be anointed without his own approbation, it is wiped off his body, for they think to be sweaty is a good thing, as they do also to be clothed in white garments. They also have stewards appointed to take care of their common affairs, who every one of them have no separate business for any, but what is for the uses of them all.
4. They have no one certain city, but many of them dwell in every city and if any of their sect come from other places, what they have lies open for them, just as if it were their own, and they go in to such as they never knew before, as if they had been ever so long acquainted with them. For which reason they carry nothing at all with them when they travel into remote parts, though still they take their weapons with them, for fear of thieves. Accordingly, there is, in every city where they live, one appointed particularly to take care of strangers, and to provide garments and other necessaries for them. But the habit and management of their bodies is such as children use who are in fear of their masters. Nor do they allow of the change of clothing or of shoes till be first torn to pieces, or worn out by time. Nor do they either buy or sell any thing to one another, but every one of them gives what he hath to him that wanteth it, and receives from him again in lieu of it what may be convenient for himself, and although there be no requital made, they are fully allowed to take what they want of whomsoever they please.
5. And as for their piety towards God, it is very extraordinary for before sun-rising they speak not a word about profane matters, but put up certain prayers which they have received from their forefathers, as if they made a supplication for its rising. After this every one of them are sent away by their curators, to exercise some of those arts wherein they are skilled, in which they labour with great diligence till the fifth hour. After which they assemble themselves together again into one place and when they have clothed themselves in white veils, they then bathe their bodies in cold water. And after this purification is over, they every one meet together in an apartment of their own, into which it is not permitted to any of another sect to enter, while they go, after a pure manner, into the dining-room, as into a certain holy temple, and quietly set themselves down. Upon which the baker lays them loaves in order, the cook also brings a single plate of one sort of food, and sets it before every one of them but a priest says grace before meat and it is unlawful for any one to taste of the food before grace be said. The same priest, when he hath dined, says grace again after meat and when they begin, and when they end, they praise God, as he that bestows their food upon them. After which they lay aside their garments, and betake themselves to their labors again till the evening; then they return home to supper, after the same manner; and if there be any strangers there, they sit down with them. Nor is there ever any clamour or disturbance to pollute their house, but they give every one leave to speak in their turn, which silence thus kept in their house appears to foreigners like some tremendous mystery, the cause of which is that perpetual sobriety they exercise, and the same settled measure of meat and drink that is allotted them, and that such as is abundantly sufficient for them.
6. And truly, as for other things, they do nothing but according to the injunctions of their curators. Only these two things are done among them at everyone's own free-will, which are to assist those that want it, and to show mercy, for they are permitted of their own accord to afford succor to such as deserve it, when they stand in need of it, and to bestow food on those that are in distress but they cannot give any thing to their kindred without the curators. They dispense their anger after a just manner, and restrain their passion. They are eminent for fidelity, and are the ministers of peace. Whatsoever they say also is firmer than an oath but swearing is avoided by them, and they esteem it worse than perjury for they say that he who cannot be believed without God is already condemned. They also take great pains in studying the writings of the ancients, and choose out of them what is most for the advantage of their soul and body; and they inquire after such roots and medicinal stones as may cure their distempers.
7. But now if any one hath a mind to come over to their sect, he is not immediately admitted, but he is prescribed the same method of living which they use for a year, while he continues excluded, and they give him also a small hatchet, and the fore-mentioned girdle, and the white garment. And when he hath given evidence, during that time, that he can observe their continence, he approaches nearer to their way of living, and is made a partaker of the waters of purification. Yet is he not even now admitted to live with them, for after this demonstration of his fortitude, his temper is tried two more years, and if he appear to be worthy, they then admit him into their society. And before he is allowed to touch their common food, he is obliged to take tremendous oaths, that, in the first place, he will exercise piety towards God, and then that he will observe justice towards men, and that he will do no harm to any one, either of his own accord, or by the command of others, that he will always hate the wicked, and be assistant to the righteous, that he will ever show fidelity to all men, and especially to those in authority, because no one obtains the government without God's assistance, and that if he be in authority, he will at no time whatever abuse his authority, nor endeavour to outshine his subjects either in his garments, or any other finery, that he will be perpetually a lover of truth, and propose to himself to reprove those that tell lies, that he will keep his hands clear from theft, and his soul from unlawful gains, and that he will neither conceal any thing from those of his own sect, nor discover any of their doctrines to others, no, not though anyone should compel him so to do at the hazard of his life. Moreover, he swears to communicate their doctrines to no one any otherwise than as he received them himself, that he will abstain from robbery, and will equally preserve the books belonging to their sect, and the names of the angels. These are the oaths by which they secure their proselytes to themselves.
8. But for those that are caught in any heinous sins, they cast them out of their society, and he who is thus separated from them does often die after a miserable manner, for as he is bound by the oath he hath taken, and by the customs he hath been engaged in, he is not at liberty to partake of that food that he meets with elsewhere, but is forced to eat grass, and to famish his body with hunger, till he perish. For which reason they receive many of them again when they are at their last gasp, out of compassion to them, as thinking the miseries they have endured till they came to the very brink of death to be a sufficient punishment for the sins they had been guilty of.
9. But in the judgments they exercise they are most accurate and just, nor do they pass sentence by the votes of a court that is fewer than a hundred. And as to what is once determined by that number, it is unalterable. What they most of all honour, after God himself, is the name of their legislator, whom if any one blaspheme he is punished capitally. They also think it a good thing to obey their elders, and the major part. Accordingly, if ten of them be sitting together, no one of them will speak while the other nine are against it. They also avoid spitting in the midst of them, or on the right side. Moreover, they are stricter than any other of the Jews in resting from their labours on the seventh day, for they not only get their food ready the day before, that they may not be obliged to kindle a fire on that day, but they will not remove any vessel out of its place, nor go to stool thereon. Nay, on other days they dig a small pit, a foot deep, with a paddle (which kind of hatchet is given them when they are first admitted among them) and covering themselves round with their garment, that they may not affront the Divine rays of light, they ease themselves into that pit, after which they put the earth that was dug out again into the pit; and even this they do only in the more lonely places, which they choose out for this purpose, and although this easement of the body be natural, yet it is a rule with them to wash themselves after it, as if it were a defilement to them.
10. Now after the time of their preparatory trial is over, they are parted into four classes, and so far are the juniors inferior to the seniors, that if the seniors should be touched by the juniors, they must wash themselves, as if they had intermixed themselves with the company of a foreigner. They are long-lived also, insomuch that many of them live above a hundred years, by means of the simplicity of their diet. Nay, as I think, by means of the regular course of life they observe also. They contemn the miseries of life, and are above pain, by the generosity of their mind. And as for death, if it will be for their glory, they esteem it better than living always and indeed our war with the Romans gave abundant evidence what great souls they had in their trials, wherein, although they were tortured and distorted, burnt and torn to pieces, and went through all kinds of instruments of torment, that they might be forced either to blaspheme their legislator, or to eat what was forbidden them, yet could they not be made to do either of them, no, nor once to flatter their tormentors, or to shed a tear; but they smiled in their very pains, and laughed those to scorn who inflicted the torments upon them, and resigned up their souls with great alacrity, as expecting to receive them again.
11. For their doctrine is this: That bodies are corruptible, and that the matter they are made of is not permanent, but that the souls are immortal, and continue for ever; and that they come out of the most subtile air, and are united to their bodies as to prisons, into which they are drawn by a certain natural enticement, but that when they are set free from the bonds of the flesh, they then, as released from a long bondage, rejoice and mount upward. And this is like the opinions of the Greeks, that good souls have their habitations beyond the ocean, in a region that is neither oppressed with storms of rain or snow, or with intense heat, but that this place is such as is refreshed by the gentle breathing of a west wind, that is perpetually blowing from the ocean; while they allot to bad souls a dark and tempestuous den, full of never-ceasing punishments. And indeed the Greeks seem to me to have followed the same notion, when they allot the islands of the blessed to their brave men, whom they call heroes and demi-gods and to the souls of the wicked, the region of the ungodly, in Hades, where their fables relate that certain persons, such as Sisyphus, and Tantalus, and Ixion, and Tityus, are punished, which is built on this first supposition, that souls are immortal, and thence are those exhortations to virtue and dehortations from wickedness collected whereby good men are bettered in the conduct of their life by the hope they have of reward after their death, and whereby the vehement inclinations of bad men to vice are restrained, by the fear and expectation they are in, that although they should lie concealed in this life, they should suffer immortal punishment after their death. These are the Divine doctrines of the Essens about the soul, which lay an unavoidable bait for such as have once had a taste of their philosophy.
12. There are also those among them who undertake to foretell things to come, by reading the holy books, and using several sorts of purifications, and being perpetually conversant in the discourses of the prophets and it is but seldom that they miss in their predictions.
13. Moreover, there is another order of Essens who agree with the rest as to their way of living, and customs, and laws, but differ from them in the point of marriage, as thinking that by not marrying they cut off the principal part of human life, which is the prospect of succession. Nay, rather, that if all men should be of the same opinion, the whole race of mankind would fail. However, they try their spouses for three years, and if they find that they have their natural purgations thrice, as trials that they are likely to be fruitful, they then actually marry them. But they do not use to accompany with their wives when they are with child, as a demonstration that they do not many out of regard to pleasure, but for the sake of posterity. Now the women go into the baths with some of their garments on, as the men do with somewhat girded about them. And these are the customs of this order of Essens.

The Essenes believed that God was completely in control of all earthly affairs. Also that the soul was immortal and would be either rewarded or punished in the afterlife. Neither Josephus nor Philo says anything about the essenes believing in the resurrection of the dead into new physical bodies, but they believed the body to be a prison house where the soul was temporarily confined until death.

The archeologists report that the buildings of the Essenes were reduced to ruins by military actions..
The iron arrowheads found were of Roman type, showing that it was a troop of Roman soldiers who attacked and eventually took the settlement.

Also uncovered was a highly developed system for channeling and storing a large supply of water.

Coins dated to AD 67 - 68, showed that the attack on Qumran could not have taken place before AD 68. As there is no evidence suggesting that the Romans penetrated into any part of the Judean wilderness until AD 70 it is very likely the attack on Qumran took place as a part of the general offensive against the Jews following the capture of Jerusalem in AD 70.

Pliny the Elder describes the Essenes as being celibate and no women in the community.
However a cemetary was discovered with twelve hundred old tombs. Atotal of forty three were opened, revealing the bodies of thirty men, seven women, and four children.
In the writings of Josephus it states there also was a noncelibate order.

Unearthed in what appeared to be a scriptorium was a very long narrow table..and pieces of one or two shorter tables. These were doubtless writing tables, since two inkpots were found in the same area..

"It seems therefore that this was the place in which the scrolls from the caves were copied. The copyists who bent over the tables and dipped their pens in these inkpots were not just ordinary secular scribes..No, the copying of Essene books, which were holy and secret, required scribes recruited from among the members of the sect themselves.? Andre' Dupont - Sommer

There are some who differ with this opinion as it has since been determined that the slabs are not from tables, but from benches. Lined along the walls of the room as in a Roman - styled triclinium, or parlor.

At Qumran there wa a defense wall... the one mined through by the Romans in order to capture the site.
Also at the site was a massive defense tower.

THE COPPER SCROLL

The COPPER SCROLL which was found in Cave Eleven, contents seem to consist of hidden artifacts and treasures, with geographical indications of various hiding places. Later on it was discovered that the described items also included manuscripts.

The scroll was found in two sections, and could not immediately be unrolled because of its age - induced - brittleness.
The scroll proved to be an inventory of hidden items and has been proved marveously accurate. An inventory of the sect's most treasured possessions, buried in various locations...the hiding places included caves, tombs, and aquaducts.

Quote from Who Wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls by Norman Golb
"The contents of the copper scroll, if taken at face value, represent a danger from the Qumran Essene hypothesis. The four thousand wealth - eschewing Essenes of the first century AD Palestine could not have had anything like the quantities of silver and other precious metals described in the text - nor could any other small sect. If the text was on authenic autograph, its treasure could only have come from the Temple, whose custodians in intertestamental times amassed great sums of wealth from the Temple dues and donations provided by a large, widespread population of Jews both in and outside of Palestine. And since this scroll had been found in one of the caves along with literary manuscripts written on parchment, the possibility must have becom suddenly apparant that the scrolls as a whole could be conceived of as having derived not from Qumran, but from Jerusalem itself. So immediately they decided to declare the text a work of fiction."

The reason for rejecting a likage of the Copper Scroll to the Temple was Josephus' statement that the Romans found treasures of the Temple within its precints after Jerusalem was taken.