Major Archeological Find in Israel

Israeli archaeologists have discovered more fragments from the famed Dead Sea Scrolls.

Part of the Twelve Minor Prophets scroll, written in Greek. SHAI HALEVI / ISRAEL ANTIQUITIES AUTHORITY.

On Tuesday, Israeli archaeologists announced the discovery of dozens of Dead Sea Scroll fragments bearing biblical text dating back nearly 1,900 years.

The scrolls are believed to have been hidden in a remote desert cave during the Bar Kochba Revolt, an armed Jewish uprising against Rome during the reign of Emperor Hadrian.

Archaeologists Hagay Hamer and Oriah Amichai sieving finds at the entrance to the Cave of Horror. (Eitan Klein, Israel Antiquities Authority)

The fragments are the first new scrolls found during archaeological excavations in the Judean Desert in about 60 years.

The fragments of parchment bear lines of Greek text from the books of Zechariah and Nahum and have been dated to around the first century based on the writing style, according to the Israel Antiquities Authority.

The Dead Sea Scrolls, a collection of Jewish texts found in desert caves in the West Bank in the 1940s and 1950s, date from the third century B.C. to the first century A.D and contain the earliest known copies of biblical texts and documents.

The approximately 80 new fragments were found during an Israeli national project to prevent further looting of…