Orion Center for the Study of the Dead Sea Scrolls

The War Scroll, cols. 12-13

One of the original seven scrolls found at Qumran; purchased by Prof. E. L. Sukenik for the Hebrew University in 1948. Photo © The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, by Ardon Bar Hama.

Professor E. L. Sukenik of the Hebrew University, studying the War Scroll (1951)

Source: Hebrew University Archaeology Department, © The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Qumran site: The Scriptorium

Viewed from the Tower. Photo by Elad Vladislovsky for the Orion Center ©.

Qumran cave 4 (southwest of the Qumran site)

Photo by Asher Altshul for the Orion Center ©.

Search the full bibliography

Since the Center began in 1995, it has maintained a weekly online bibliography of the latest in Dead Sea Scrolls scholarship. The Current Bibliography is posted every Monday. The cumulative Online Bibliography now features more than 21,000 entries; we are gradually expanding the database to encompass entries dating from the beginnings of scrolls research. Search the full bibliography!

Take a Virtual Qumran Tour

Orion’s Virtual Qumran features a video tour of the site led by archaeologist Professor Jodi Magness, of the University of North Carolina, as well as information pages on the Scrolls and the people who produced them. TAKE the Tour!

Upcoming Events

More Orion Center News

Now Published! The Religious Worldviews Reflected in the Dead Sea Scrolls

Proceedings of the Fourteenth International Symposium of the Orion Center for the Study of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Associated Literature, 28–30 May, 2013. Edited by Ruth A. Clements, Menahem Kister and Michael Segal. Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah 127. Leiden: Brill, 2018. https://brill.com/view/title/39295

Scholarships and Internships

The Orion Center offers scholarships for masters and doctoral students who wish to conduct Scrolls-related research in Jerusalem.
Application deadlines are usually in the spring. For application instructions, click HERE.
The Center also offers the opportunity for students already learning in Jerusalem to volunteer as interns at the Center. For more details, click HERE.
Other Scholarship and Fellowship Opportunities

Dead Sea Scrolls Online

The Israel Museum and the Israel Antiquities Authority have put online searchable digital images of many of the scrolls in their collections. The Cambridge University Library has done the same with its manuscripts of the Damascus Document and the Aramaic Levy Document. Click here to access these collections.

Honors and Awards

Prof. Michael Segal, head of the Orion Academic Committee, was elected Dean of the HU Faculty of Humanities, beginning October 2018
Prof Paula Fredriksen, member of the Orion Academic Committee, was awarded an HU honorary doctorate on June 11, 2018
Prof. Elisha Qimron, Ben-Gurion University, was honored with the Israel Prize on May 19, 2018