Q 01/05

The Qumran caves where the scrolls were found lie in which modern territory?

A) The Sinai Peninsula

B) The West Bank

C) The Golan Heights

D) The Negev

Answer · why

B) The West Bank

The caves sit near Ein Feshkha on the north-west shore of the Dead Sea, an area under Jordanian control when most finds were made.

Q 02/05

The scrolls were discovered over a ten-year period beginning in which year?

A) 1922

B) 1946

C) 1938

D) 1955

Answer · why

B) 1946

The first finds came between November 1946 and February 1947; the last Qumran cave was found in 1956.

Q 03/05

Who made the initial discovery of the scrolls?

A) Bedouin shepherds

B) French monks

C) British soldiers

D) Israeli archaeologists

Answer · why

A) Bedouin shepherds

Muhammed edh-Dhib was the first to actually fall into what is now called Cave 1 and carried a handful of scrolls back to camp.

Q 04/05

Roughly how many different manuscripts have researchers assembled from the Qumran caves?

A) About 981

B) About 120

C) About 350

D) About 4,000

Answer · why

A) About 981

Most survive only as scraps; fewer than a dozen scrolls are nearly intact.

Q 05/05

The scrolls come from how many caves in the immediate vicinity of Qumran?

A) 3

B) 7

C) 20

D) 11

Answer · why

D) 11

A twelfth cave announced in 2017 held only a blank parchment and evidence of looting in the 1950s.