<P> Many thousands of written fragments have been discovered in the Dead Sea area . They represent the remnants of larger manuscripts damaged by natural causes or through human interference , with the vast majority only holding small scraps of text . However , a small number of well - preserved , almost intact manuscripts have survived -- fewer than a dozen among those from the Qumran Caves . Researchers have assembled a collection of some 981 different manuscripts -- discovered in 1946 / 47 and in 1956 -- from 11 caves . The 11 Qumran Caves lie in the immediate vicinity of the Hellenistic - period Jewish settlement at Khirbet Qumran in the eastern Judaean Desert , in the West Bank . The caves are located about one mile ( 1.6 kilometres ) west of the northwest shore of the Dead Sea , whence they derive their name . Scholarly consensus dates the Qumran Caves Scrolls from the last three centuries BCE and from the first century CE . Bronze coins found at the same sites form a series beginning with John Hyrcanus ( in office 135 -- 104 BCE ) and continuing until the period of the First Jewish -- Roman War ( 66 -- 73 CE ) , supporting the radiocarbon and paleographic dating of the scrolls . </P>
<P> Many thousands of written fragments have been discovered in the Dead Sea area . They represent the remnants of larger manuscripts damaged by natural causes or through human interference , with the vast majority only holding small scraps of text . However , a small number of well - preserved , almost intact manuscripts have survived -- fewer than a dozen among those from the Qumran Caves . Researchers have assembled a collection of some 981 different manuscripts -- discovered in 1946 / 47 and in 1956 -- from 11 caves . The 11 Qumran Caves lie in the immediate vicinity of the Hellenistic - period Jewish settlement at Khirbet Qumran in the eastern Judaean Desert , in the West Bank . The caves are located about one mile ( 1.6 kilometres ) west of the northwest shore of the Dead Sea , whence they derive their name . Scholarly consensus dates the Qumran Caves Scrolls from the last three centuries BCE and from the first century CE . Bronze coins found at the same sites form a series beginning with John Hyrcanus ( in office 135 -- 104 BCE ) and continuing until the period of the First Jewish -- Roman War ( 66 -- 73 CE ) , supporting the radiocarbon and paleographic dating of the scrolls . </P>
what was all found in the dead sea scrolls
what was all found in the dead sea scrolls
981 different manuscripts
981 different manuscripts