The Dead Sea Scrolls is a comprehensive guide to the meaning and significance of one of the most fascinating and controversial archaeological discoveries of the last century. - Provides an overview of the contents of the scrolls - Explores why the scrolls were written and when: are they from the time of Christ or are they copies of much older texts? - Explores the links between the ideas contained in the scrolls, orthodox Judaism and the origins of Christianity - Describes the excavations of the scrolls and what has been learnt about the religious community based at the site - Analyses the controversy surrounding access to, and publication of, the scrolls in their entirety - Features interviews with the major Dead Sea Scroll scholars and explains the key interpretations - Explores in detail the two most extraordinary documents in the collection: the War Scroll and the Temple Scroll, and analyses their descriptions of apocalypse and disaster - Reproduces key selected passages from the scrolls together with the different interpretations of them by scholars - Provides maps, diagrams and plates of the excavations and the scrolls themselves.