Chrissie Bond, age 10, of Youngstown, Ohio, for her question:

WHAT ARE THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS?

In 1947 a Bedouin shepherd boy found a group of scrolls in a cave in the Qumran Valley of Palestine near the northeastern shore of the Dead Sea. And then in the late 1940s and early 1950s 10 additional caves were found which contained more ancient writings.

The ancient manuscripts have been named the Dead Sea Scrolls. Many scholars call them the greatest manuscript discovery of modern times. Included are all of the books of the Old Testament except Esther. Fragments of hundreds of documents made of leather and papyrus were also found. The papers probably came from the library of an ancient Jewish religious sect.

In addition to the Old Testament books, the Dead Sea Scrolls also included fragments of the earliest Greek translation of the Old Testament.