第1段

In late 1946 or early 1947, three Bedouin teenagers were tending their goats and sheep near the ancient settlement of Qumran, located on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea in what is now known as the West Bank. One of these young shepherds tossed a rock into an opening on the side of a cliff and was surprised to hear a shattering sound. He and his companions later entered the cave and stumbled across a collection of large clay jars, seven of which contained scrolls with writing on them. The teenagers took the seven scrolls to a nearby town where they were sold for a small sum to a local antiquities dealer. Word of the find spread, and Bedouins and archaeologists eventually unearthed tens of thousands of additional scroll fragments from 10 nearby caves; together they make up between 800 and 900 manuscripts. It soon became clear that this was one of the greatest archaeological discoveries ever made.

第2段

The origin of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which were written around 2,000 years ago between 150 BCE and 70 CE, is still the subject of scholarly debate even today. According to the prevailing theory, they are the work of a population that inhabited the area until Roman troops destroyed the settlement around 70 CE. The area was known as Judea at that time, and the people are thought to have belonged to a group called the Essenes, a devout Jewish sect.

第3段

The majority of the texts on the Dead Sea Scrolls are in Hebrew, with some fragments written in an ancient version of its alphabet thought to have fallen out of use in the fifth century BCE. But there are other languages as well. Some scrolls are in Aramaic, the language spoken by many inhabitants of the region from the sixth century BCE to the siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE. In addition, several texts feature translations of the Hebrew Bible into Greek.

第4段

The Dead Sea Scrolls include fragments from every book of the Old Testament of the Bible except for the Book of Esther. The only entire book of the Hebrew Bible preserved among the manuscripts from Qumran is Isaiah; this copy, dated to the first century BCE, is considered the earliest biblical manuscript still in existence. Along with biblical texts, the scrolls include documents about sectarian regulations and religious writings that do not appear in the Old Testament.

第5段

The writing on the Dead Sea Scrolls is mostly in black or occasionally red ink, and the scrolls themselves are nearly all made of either parchment (animal skin) or an early form of paper called ‘papyrus’. The only exception is the scroll numbered 3Q15, which was created out of a combination of copper and tin. Known as the Copper Scroll, this curious document features letters chiselled onto metal – perhaps, as some have theorized, to better withstand the passage of time. One of the most intriguing manuscripts from Qumran, this is a sort of ancient treasure map that lists dozens of gold and silver caches. Using an unconventional vocabulary and odd spelling, it describes 64 underground hiding places that supposedly contain riches buried for safekeeping. None of these hoards have been recovered, possibly because the Romans pillaged Judea during the first century CE. According to various hypotheses, the treasure belonged to local people, or was rescued from the Second Temple before its destruction or never existed to begin with.

第6段

Some of the Dead Sea Scrolls have been on interesting journeys. In 1948, a Syrian Orthodox archbishop known as Mar Samuel acquired four of the original seven scrolls from a Jerusalem shoemaker and part-time antiquity dealer, paying less than $100 for them. He then travelled to the United States and unsuccessfully offered them to a number of universities, including Yale. Finally, in 1954, he placed an advertisement in the business newspaper  – under the category ‘Miscellaneous Items for Sale’ – that read: ‘Biblical Manuscripts dating back to at least 200 B.C. are for sale. This would be an ideal gift to an educational or religious institution by an individual or group.’ Fortunately, Israeli archaeologist and statesman Yigael Yadin negotiated their purchase and brought the scrolls back to Jerusalem, where they remain to this day.

第7段

In 2017, researchers from the University of Haifa restored and deciphered one of the last untranslated scrolls. The university’s Eshbal Ratson and Jonathan Ben-Dov spent one year reassembling the 60 fragments that make up the scroll. Deciphered from a band of coded text on parchment, the find provides insight into the community of people who wrote it and the 364-day calendar they would have used. The scroll names celebrations that indicate shifts in seasons and details two yearly religious events known from another Dead Sea Scroll. Only one more known scroll remains untranslated.

第一段：

1946年末或1947年初，三个贝都因族的青少年在今天被称为约旦河西岸的死海西北岸的古代定居点库姆兰附近放牧羊群。其中一个年轻牧羊人将一块石头扔入悬崖一侧的洞穴，听到了碎裂的声音，感到很惊讶。他和同伴随后进入了洞穴，并偶然发现了一批大型陶罐，其中七个罐子中有写字的卷轴。这几个青少年将这七个卷轴带到附近的一个城镇出售，以很小的金额卖给了当地的古董商。这一发现的消息传开后，贝都因族人和考古学家最终从附近的10个洞穴中挖掘出数以万计的卷轴碎片，总计约800至900个手稿。很快就明白，这是有史以来最重要的考古发现之一。

第二段：

死海卷轴的起源仍然是学术界争论的话题，即使在今天也是如此。根据主流理论，这些卷轴是在公元前150年至公元70年之间约2000年前写成的，属于一支居住在该地区直到罗马军队于公元70年摧毁了该定居点的人群的作品。当时该地区被称为犹太地，人们认为他们属于一个虔诚的犹太教派别，被称为以色列人。

第三段：

死海卷轴上的大部分文本是用希伯来语书写的，其中一些碎片是用古代版本的希伯来字母书写的，这种字母已经在公元前5世纪停止使用。但也有其他语言的卷轴。一些卷轴是用阿拉姆语书写的，这是从公元前6世纪到公元70年耶路撒冷被围攻期间，该地区许多居民使用的语言。此外，还有几个文本将希伯来圣经翻译成了希腊语。

第四段：

死海卷轴包括旧约圣经除以斯帖记之外的每一本书的片段。在库姆兰的手稿中唯一完整的希伯来圣经是以赛亚书；这份手稿可追溯到公元前1世纪，被认为是目前仍然存在的最早的圣经手稿。除了圣经文本，卷轴中还包括了关于教派规章和没有出现在旧约圣经中的宗教文献的文件。

第五段：

死海卷轴上的文字大多是用黑色墨水，偶尔也使用红色墨水书写，而卷轴本身几乎全部由羊皮或一种早期的纸张形式——莎草纸制成。唯一的例外是编号为3Q15的卷轴，它是由铜和锡的组合物创建的。被称为铜卷轴的这份奇特文献上的字母是被凿刻在金属上的，或许是为了更好地经受时间的流逝，正如一些人所推测的那样。作为库姆兰最引人注目的手稿之一，这是一种古老的财富地图，罗列了数十个藏有金银的地下隐藏处。它使用一种非常规的词汇和奇怪的拼写，描述了64个地下掩埋处，据说这些地方埋藏着供安全保管的财富。目前尚未发现其中任何一个财富，可能是因为公元1世纪罗马人掠夺了犹太地。根据不同的假设，这些财富可能属于当地人，或者是在第二圣殿被摧毁之前被救出，或者根本不存在。

第六段：

一些死海卷轴经历了一些有趣的旅程。1948年，一个名叫马尔•塞缪尔的叙利亚东正教大主教从耶路撒冷的一位鞋匠兼业余古董商那里购得了最初的七个卷轴中的四个，仅花费不到100美元。然后，他前往美国，并未能将这些卷轴出售给包括耶鲁大学在内的几所大学。最终，1954年，他在一家商业报纸上发布了一则广告，分类为“待售杂项”，广告内容是：“可追溯到公元前200年至少的圣经手稿待售。对于个人或团体来说，这将是给教育机构或宗教机构的理想礼物。”幸运的是，以色列考古学家和政治家伊加尔•亚丁谈判购买了这些卷轴，并将其带回了耶路撒冷，它们至今仍保存在那里。

第七段：

2017年，来自海法大学的研究人员修复并解读了最后一个未翻译的卷轴之一。该大学的埃什巴尔•拉特森和乔纳森•本多夫花了一年的时间重新拼合了由60个碎片组成的卷轴。通过对羊皮上编码文本条带的解读，这一发现揭示了撰写它的社区以及他们可能使用的364天历法。这份卷轴命名了一些庆祝活动，表明季节的更替，并详细描述了另一份死海卷轴所知的每年两次的宗教活动。目前只剩下一份未翻译的卷轴。