Archaeologists Excavate Near Dead Sea Scrolls Cave

JERUSALEM, Israel – Israel's endless treasure trove of antiquities linking the modern nation-state with its biblical history just got another boost, in part to protect these priceless national treasures from antiquities robbers.

Israeli Culture and Sports Minister Miri Regev is promoting a national plan to excavate caves in the area where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in 1947. Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologists and the Heritage Project, aided by teams of volunteers, are already excavating the Cave of the Skulls in Nahal Tse'elim.

Regev said the Dead Sea Scrolls "bear witness of the existence of Israel in the Land of Israel 2,000 years ago."

"It is our duty to protect these unique treasures, which belong to the Jewish people and the entire world," she said, adding that she will work to increase the punishment against those who rob Israel's antiquities.

IAA inspectors have worked diligently to catch antiquities thieves and say that only by excavating the remaining scrolls will the heritage be preserved for generations.

In November 2014, inspectors with the IAA's Unit for the Prevention of Antiquities Robbery caught a band of robbers from the village of Sa'ir near Hebron. The inspectors caught them stealing antiquities from the Cave of the Skulls. They were subsequently tried, sentenced to prison and fined 100,000 shekels ($25,000).

A joint sting operation a few years earlier rescued a papyrus scroll written in Hebrew dating to 139 AD. The thieves had tried to sell the scroll for $2 million. IAA archaeologists said the scroll may have been part of an archive belonging to Jews who fled to the desert from Hebron during the Bar-Kochba uprising.

Now the IAA hopes to find more of these scrolls.

"After all, the Dead Sea scrolls are of religious, political and historical importance to Jews, Christians and all of humanity," IAA Director General Israel Hasson concluded.