The Four Caves

At Cave 1, archaeologists discovered many Roman period potsherds, as well as baskets, mats, metal artifacts, weapons, and coins* (Benoit et al., Les Grottes, 9). The cave showed signs of having been excavated illegally—likely as part of the explorations following the discoveries at Qumran. There were also signs of the usage of guano deposits at the caves, which disturbed the site and seems to have results in manuscripts being discarded by those who likely mistook them for typical leather.

Cave 2, located directly west of Cave 1, has a square opening of about 13–20 feet (4–6 meters) and extends 130 feet (40 meters) into the wall of Wadi Murabba’at. It contained various scroll and document fragments, which were mainly located against the walls, in corners, and under stones.

The upper stratum at the cave contained pottery sherds dating to the Islamic period and the Iron Age II. The majority of the material remains came from the Roman period, including pottery, woodworking tools, metal tools, fabric, leather, and basketry. Below a layer of cave-collapse materials, de Vaux and his team discovered Chalcolithic ceramics and animal bones, wood needles, basketry, string, flint tools, and polishing stones (Benoit et al., Les Grottes, 11).

The antechamber of Cave 2 yielded several skin fragments, including a fragmentary manuscript containing portions of Genesis, Exodus, and Numbers (labeled Mur 1), two fragments of an ostracon, a Middle Bronze alabaster vessel, and a Middle Bronze Hyksos scarab (Fritsch, Qumran Community, 54–60). In addition, Cave 2 discoveries yielded a fragmentary Deuteronomy scroll (Mur 2) and a fragment containing portions of Isaiah 1 (Mur 3).

Cave 3 is located about 130 feet (40 meters) west of Cave 2. The cave mainly yielded pottery sherds from the Roman period, but it also contained Chalcolithic sherds. It did not contain any manuscript fragments. Among the most significant finds at Cave 3 were the pottery sherds, two iron knives (one still with a partial wooden handle), a copper rod, and an engraved bone dating to the Iron Age II (Benoit et al., Les Grottes, 13).

Cave 4 was located about 985 feet (300 meters) up the ravine from Caves 1, 2, and 3. It yielded Roman and Chalcolithic pottery sherds, cloth, leather, and basketry.

The primary discovery from Cave 5 was a Minor Prophets scroll (Mur 88 = Mur XII), which contains portions of Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, and Haggai. This find was also by a bedouin, who found it with a corpse. Cave 5 is located upstream from Caves 1–4.