--- title: Dead Sea Scrolls: Archaeologists Discover New Cave description: Archaeologists from the Hebrew University discovered a new cave that contains a set of Dead Sea Scrolls canonical: https://time.com/4666060/dead-sea-scroll-cave-discovery/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-02-09T21:56:58.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T03:14:50.194Z article:section: Science og:title: Dead Sea Scrolls: Archaeologists Discover New Cave og:description: Archaeologists from the Hebrew University discovered a new cave that contains a set of Dead Sea Scrolls og:url: https://time.com/4666060/dead-sea-scroll-cave-discovery/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4466ec855c409359/6988b9994dd215f76aefdb2e/dead-sea-scrolls-cave-1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: dead-sea-scrolls-cave-1 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Dead Sea Scrolls: Archaeologists Discover New Cave twitter:description: Archaeologists from the Hebrew University discovered a new cave that contains a set of Dead Sea Scrolls twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4466ec855c409359/6988b9994dd215f76aefdb2e/dead-sea-scrolls-cave-1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Archaeologists Discover First New Dead Sea Scrolls Cave in 60 Years  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Feb 9, 2017 9:56 PM UTC  Hebrew University archaeologists Hebrew University archaeologistsCasey L. Olson and Oren Gutfeld  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Feb 9, 2017 9:56 PM UTC Archaeologists from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem have discovered a new “Dead Sea Scroll cave,” the first such discovery in more than 60 years, according to a university [press release](http://new.huji.ac.il/en/article/33424). The cave—located in cliffs near the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea—is now thought to be the 12th of its kind. Researchers found a long list of items including smashed jars and a leather strap for binding and cloth for wrapping the scrolls, but they did not actually find an actual scroll. “The important discovery of another scroll cave attests to the fact that a lot of work remains to be done,” said Israel Hasson**,** director-gneral of the Israel Antiquities Authority, in a press release. “We are in a race against time.” The [Dead Sea Scrolls](http://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19570415,00.html) are a collection of ancient manuscripts thought to be among the oldest known surviving Judeo-Chrisitian texts. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4666060/dead-sea-scroll-cave-discovery/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4666060/dead-sea-scroll-cave-discovery/"},"headline":"Archaeologists Discover First New Dead Sea Scrolls Cave in 60 Years","datePublished":"2017-02-09T21:56:58.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T03:14:50.194Z","description":"But the cave did not contain an actual scroll","url":"https://time.com/4666060/dead-sea-scroll-cave-discovery/","keywords":["Archaeology","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4466ec855c409359/6988b9994dd215f76aefdb2e/dead-sea-scrolls-cave-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4466ec855c409359/6988b9994dd215f76aefdb2e/dead-sea-scrolls-cave-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"dead-sea-scrolls-cave-1","caption":"Hebrew University archaeologists","creditText":"Casey L. Olson and Oren Gutfeld","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/archaeology/","name":"Archaeology"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4666060/dead-sea-scroll-cave-discovery/","name":"Archaeologists Discover First New Dead Sea Scrolls Cave in 60 Years"}}]}] ```