The search for new DSS

OVERVIEW: Historic Judean archeological discoveries a 'wake-up call.' Judean treasure: IAA director calls historic finds ‘a wake-up call’ (JUDITH SUDILOVSKY, Jerusalem Post). A thorough review of the recent scroll discovery in the Cave of Horror and the search for new Dead Sea Scrolls (Judean Desert scrolls) in recent years. Written around a long interview with Eitan Klein, deputy director of the Israel Antiquities Authority Unit for the Prevention of Antiquities Theft, who co-directs Operation Scroll.

The cave-by-cave scanning, which was not possible before, has helped archaeologists identify previously unknown cave openings, he said.

“There is no 100 percent but we think our scanning is about 90 percent of the caves. I expect us to get to 95 percent of the caves, though there will be some we will miss,” he said. “Thefts still occur but our control of the area is much stronger now. We will have a catalogue of all the caves in the Judean Desert and today I can look at a cave and know if there are antiquities there or not, which I couldn’t know before. Before I would look at a cliff and see a black hole.”

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