The Dead Sea Scrolls were made from parchment (processed animal hide), although some are of papyrus reed paper and one, known as the
Copper Scroll, is of thin sheets of bronze. The scrolls are written in Hebrew, for the most part, with about 20 percent in Aramaic (an ancient semitic language spoken by Jews beginning about 900 BCE) and a few in Greek. The alphabets used on the scrolls are mostly Aramaic script, an alphabet adopted by the Jews after the fall of the Kingdom of Judea, about 586 BCE.
The texts of the Dead Sea Scrolls include 23 of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (the Protestant Old Testament)--Esther is missing. Eight or more copies of several books of the old testament were found, including the Pentateuch, Isaiah, Twelve Prophets, Psalms, and Daniel. The scrolls also include what scholars refer to as sectarian literature--papers that describe the rules, beliefs and practices of the sect which had stored the scrolls, and commentaries on biblical books.
One of the most important of the sectarian manuscripts recovered from the Caves at Qumran is called the Community Rule. Also known as The Manual of Discipline, the Community Rule describes the rules ordering the communal life of the Dead Sea sect. The rules of life deal with the manner of joining the group, the relations between members, their way of life and their beliefs. The large number of surviving fragments of this scroll indicate its importance to the sect. The Community Rule is written on parchment, and was written in the Hebrew language some time between the 1st century B.C.E.--1st century C.E.
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