Margaret Hale, age 12, of San Diego, Calif., r her question:

How were the Dead Sea Scrolls discovered?

The year was 1947. A Bedouin goat boy was tending his herd in the lonely wilderness of Judea. His name was Muhammad Adh‑Dhib. Goats are frisky animals and tend to stray, even when foraging in sparse desert land. Some say that young Muhammad was chasing a stray goat when he climbed the rugged crags surrounding the Dead Sea. On the other hand, he may have been just exploring, the way boys all over the world love to explore.

In any case, Muhammad found an interesting crack in the rocks. He dropped in a stone, perhaps testing for a cave. Sure enough, there was a cave and, from the sound of the falling stone, it had obviously hit and broken some pottery. Such a find, naturally, called for a partner. Muhammad left and returned with a friend. Together they discovered the first of the now famous Dead Sea Scrolls. But not for many years did the two young Bedouins learn that they had made, perhaps, the greatest of all discoveries of modern civilization.