Excavators found the ancient scrolls in a large pottery vessel, with some even bearing their original, 3,000-year-old clay seals.Fox News appears to have broken the story in the English-speaking world. No word yet on the contents of the scrolls. Reading the texts will be a laborious and painstaking process."They vary in size and are considered a valuable source of information, with the world awaiting the results following their restoration and translation," the translated release said.
The coffins of Amun chanters — temple singers dedicated to the god Amun — were found stacked in a rock-carved rectangular funerary chamber [on Luxor's West Bank].
As I have said before, it is remarkable that Egypt continues to produce substantial scroll discoveries. Several have been found at Saqqara, one of the most thoroughly explored sites in the world. This one was in Luxor, at the other end of Egypt, but comparably explored already. For other recent Egyptian scroll discoveries, see the links at the bottom of this post. If I may quote myself from the first link in this paragraph:
And if there are intact 16-meter ancient scrolls still lying around in Egypt, what does that say about the potential for new scroll finds in Israel? Israel has fewer areas that have the right climactic conditions to preserve scrolls. But there are still promising regions. Besides the Dead Sea region and Samaria, both of which have produced remarkable scroll discoveries, both Megiddo and the Timna Valley have potential. I have discussed the matter here.Since then, an even earlier textile fragment (c. 1500-2000 BCE) has been recovered from one of the Judean Desert caves. See my commentary at the link for some implications.
The sites in Israel whose climate could preserve ancient scrolls have been extensively explored. But there may still be surprises in them. Keep looking!
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