Discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls
During the winter of 1946-1947, three Bedouins were tending their sheep and goats near a spring in the vicinity of Wadi Qumran. One of the herdsmen threw a rock through a small opening in the cliff and heard an earthenware jar shatter. Another Bedouin later lowered himself into the cave and found 10 tall jars lining the walls. 3 manuscripts (one of them in 4 pieces) stored in 2 of the jars were removed from the cave and offered to an antiquities dealer in Bethlehem.
Several months later, the Bedouins secured 4 more scrolls (one of them in 2 pieces) from the cave and sold them to another Bethlehem dealer.
These scrolls included an incomplete scroll of Isaiah, the Hymns of Thanksgiving (containing 12 columns of original psalms), and the War Scroll (The War of the Children of Darkness), a complete Isaiah scroll, a commentary on Habakkuk, a scroll containing a Manual of Discipline from the religious community at Qumran, and the Genesis Apocryphon (originally thought to be the apocryphal book of Lamech but is actually an Aramaic paraphrase of Genesis).
When they learned of their importance, they continued searching the area for more.
The Bedouins discovered more Dead Sea Scrolls in the Wadi Murabba'at in 1951, and in 1952, Harding and de Vaux excavated the caves there. They found biblical documents, letters, coins there from the time of the Second Jewish Revolt under Bar Kochba in A.D. 132-135. Documents include a Hebrew text of the Minor Prophets dating from the 2nd century A.D., fragments of the Pentateuch, and Isaiah.
(The Origin of the Bible: Newly Updated by F. F. Bruce, J. I. Packer, Philip W. Comfort, and Carl F. H. Henry, 2020. Texts and Manuscripts of the Old Testament by Mark R. Norton, Page 161-163, 165)