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Dead Sea Scrolls unearthed by Israeli archaeologists in desert cave

The Israeli project also discovered the remains of a mummified child and what's believed to be the world's oldest basket.

Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) conservator Tanya Bitler displays recently-discovered 2000-year-old biblical scroll fragments from the Bar Kochba period, after completion of preservation work at the authority's Dead Sea conservation lab in Jerusalem, on March 16, 2021. - Israel described the find, which includes a cache of rare coins, a six-millennia-old skeleton of a child and basket it described as the oldest in the world, at over 10,000 years, as one of the most significant since the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) conservator Tanya Bitler displays recently discovered 2000-year-old biblical scroll fragments from the Bar Kochba period, after completion of preservation work at the authority's Dead Sea conservation lab in Jerusalem, on March 16, 2021. — MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP via Getty Images

For the first time in more than 60 years, Israeli archaeologists have unveiled a new collection of Dead Sea Scrolls, adding to the treasure trove of rare Jewish texts uncovered in the Judean desert. 

The Israel Antiquities Authority revealed on Tuesday that a four-year-long national excavation project, which was launched to prevent the looting of antiquities, had uncovered dozens of 2,000-year-old biblical scroll fragments. 

The scrolls contain verses from the Book of the Twelve Minor Prophets, including Zechariah and Nahum, and are written in Greek — with the exception of God’s name in Hebrew.

The scroll fragments were recovered from what’s known as the Cave of Horror, where Jewish refugees are believed to have hidden during a failed uprising against the Roman Empire nearly 1,900 years ago. 

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