en 1951 began no one in Jerusalem could possibly have imagined all that was to happen during the coming months. Around the world consider­ able attention was being drawn to the scrolls by preliminary publications "When the caves [of and especially the scientific dating of one Murabba'at] came into of the covers of the scrolls from Cave 1. In Jordan, de Vaux continued his excavations view, we were surprised at and elsewhere. But no one was to see coming out of these prepared for an astounding new discovery holes about 34 illegal dig­ made south of Qumran somewhat inland from the coast of the Dead Sea before the gers ... We immediately year was out. hired about half of them as March 1951 legitimate workers." Cut off from the events in Jordan, but Father with access to photographs of three of the four St. Mark's scrolls, Trever, Brownlee, and Burrows continued to work on their publication. Volume 2, Fascicle 2 of The of St. Mark's Monastery, the Manual of Discipline, was published in March 1951.1 Fascicle I, planned as a further study of the Commentary, was never published due to lack of funding, 2 nor was Skehan's planned edition of the St. Mark's Isaiah (Isaiah'), apparently for the same reason.3 William Brownlee had been working for several years on his translation of "DSD," the Manual of Discipline from Cave 1. It was published in The Biblical Ar­ chaeologist and seen through the process by the young Professor Cross at McCor­ mick Seminary in Chicago. Though he did not know it at the time, Cross was to be appointed to the Cave 4 Team and spend the rest of his life connected to the sc.rolls, but on 13 October 1951 he wrote Brownlee, "Thank you very much for the copy of your excellent translation ofDSD. I've had opportunity since receiving it to sample it in a nwnber of troublesome passages .... You ~ave done a most competent and thor- THE DEAD SEA SCR..OLLS rn A Full History, Volume One, 1947-1960 ough job-especially when one bears in mind the short time since the scrolls came to light. I feel honored to have a copy from the author!"4 October 1951: Murabba'at During the first three days of October 1951 the St. Mark's scrolls were being exhibited at St. Mary's Assyrian Apostolic Church, Worcester, Massachusetts. Far away in Jordan a new scroll was discovered, but it didn't come to the attention of Hard­ ing, Saad, de Vaux, and Dajani until late 1951. It is best to let

de Vaux himself tell the story, S which extends well into 1952.

As regards the first He­ brew manuscripts found near the Dead Sea in 1947, we can perhaps regret the mystery that has sur­ rounded their discovery, and the contradictions of accounts that were told by those who were more or less directly involved in the adventure. These ob­ scurities caused a certain uneasiness, and caused some people to doubt their authenticity without any justification. To prevent such from recurring with regard to

Gerald Lankester Harding excavating at Wadi Murabba'at. Murabba'at, it seemed Photo Richmond Brown. Courtesy the Ecole biblique et necessary to give quite a archeologique frans:aise Jerusalem. detailed history of the dis- coveries and research. I apologize for the personal tone that I must keep for this account, which is my own testimony. Inquiries and Purchases In October 1951 some Ta'amireh Bedouin presented to the Rockefeller Museum6 in Jerusalem, two fragments of skin with some Hebrew and Greek words written on them. Mr. Harding and I were not there at the time. After

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