In early 1947, a Bedouin shepherd boy went in search of a stray goat that had strayed onto the cliffs along the coast of the Dead Sea. While searching for it, he discovered a cave containing ceramic vessels filled with manuscripts that would become known as the Dead Sea Scrolls. The study of these scrolls has advanced human understanding of the authenticity of the Old Testament, the development of historical Jewish texts, the culture of the Jewish community in which Christianity was born and rabbinic Judaism developed, and the connections that can now be established between Judaism and Christianity. When Juma, the young sheep herder of the Taamireh Bedouin tribe in an area of ​​the Judean Desert known as Qumran, heard shattering sounds from inside the cave into which he had just thrown a stone, he called his two cousins, but he was becoming too late in the evening to investigate the noise. The next day the younger cousin, Muhammed, went up and searched the mysterious cave expecting to find great treasure (Varner). Instead, Muhammed returned to the village disappointed and empty-handed, because all he found inside the cave were many ceramic vessels containing leather scrolls wrapped in linen cloths (Schiffman 2233). However, the villagers brought the scrolls back to use as fuel for the fire when they noticed that seven of these manuscripts contained religious texts ("Discovery"). These seven scrolls began their journey to fame with an antiquities dealer in Bethlehem. In 1948, three of the seven scrolls passed from here to the Hebrew University. The other four were sold to the Syrian Orthodox Monastery of San Marco. Subsequently, these four scrolls were taken to the American School of Oriental Research, where their antiquity first came to the attention of archaeologists… half of the sheet……es.” Encyclopedia of religion. Ed. Lindsay Jones. 2nd ed. vol. 4. New York: Macmilla Reference USA, 2005. 2845-8. Press.- - -. “What are the Dead Sea Scrolls really?” Jewish-Christian relations. International Council of Christians and Jews, 2010. Web. April 27, 2010. Silberman, Neil Asher. “Dead Sea Scrolls”. The Oxford Companion to Archaeology. Ed. Brian M. Fagan, et al. New York: Oxford UP, 1996. 169-71. Print.Solanki, Paul. "The Importance of the Dead Sea Scrolls." Hum. Np, 2000-2010. Network. April 27, 2010.Varner, Will. “What is the importance of the Dead Sea Scrolls?” Christian responses. Associates for Biblical Research, 1997. Web. April 27, 2010. “Why the Scrolls Matter.” The Dead Sea Scrolls Foundation. Np, 2008. Web. May 26, 2010. Wilford, John Noble. "The Dead Sea Scrolls: Fragile and Extraordinary." New York Times 8 Oct. 1993: n. page Network. April 26. 2010.