THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS

It's hard to know which is more amazing—that the artifacts known as the Dead Sea Scrolls survived for 2,000 years, or that their reported discovery, reassembly, and translation were accomplished despite the hurdles created by war-torn countries and the uncooperative acts of competing scientists. Cooper (Buddy Love, 1995, etc.) establishes both a timeline and a relative order to the chaotic events surrounding the story of the scrolls' discovery. As the story goes, they were found hidden in a cave by two Bedouin shepherd boys. Their tribe sold the scrolls to several different dealers, and also swept up scraps of the crumbling scrolls from the cave floors: This made the work of the scholars who studied the scrolls extremely tedious and frustrating. Some of the scholars became overzealous and refused to allow others access to the parts they were working on. The finding of the scrolls took place in 1947, but it wasn't until the 1990s that many of the texts became available publicly. Cooper unravels this tangled knot of information, jumping between ancient and more recent historical references, letting readers know when there are conflicting facts, and providing back matter that further reveals the complications of this archaeological enigma. (b&w illustrations, chronology, glossary, bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 10+)