Product Details

• Directors: Curtis Briggs
• Writers: Jane Wilson
• Producers: Bo Landin, Sterling Van Wagenen
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Live / Artisan
• VHS Release Date: June 27, 2000
• Run Time: 60 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• ASIN: 0784015147
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #458,029 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This beautifully photographed documentary coproduced by Discovery Channel presents an insightful look at ongoing scientific inquiry into the mysterious scrolls discovered hidden in clay jars in desert caves near Qumran, on the shores of the Dead Sea, in 1947. The scrolls were a sensation upon their discovery, and over the decades they have been the subject of conspiracy theories, as some have suggested that their contents might have been censored if they disputed commonly accepted ideas about Christianity. Scholars are profiled, the people who have labored to transcribe the scrolls, as well as to understand the lives of the mysterious "Sons of Light," the desert sect whose members are believed to have written them. What emerges is a portrait of serious scholars who are using the latest in computer technology to scan the scrolls and make the contents available to the public. Surprisingly, the location of where the scrolls were originally written is called into question by scientists who have tested some of the parchment and discovered that it's actually made from the skin of cows, animals that were probably not kept near the Dead Sea. This is a lively yet serious look at how innovative science can probe mysteries of some of the most amazing artifacts ever found. --Robert J. McNamara

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not the best Dead Sea Scrolls video, November 1, 2000

By 

Thomas D. Kehoe (Boulder, CO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Dead Sea Scrolls - Unraveling The Mystery [VHS] (VHS Tape)

In a class I saw a fascinating 2-hour Discovery Channel video about what the Dead Sea Scrolls say -- competing cults attacking each other, destroying each others' sacred documents, turning myths into stories of real events and real events into myths, all shedding insights into the origins of the New Testament. I mistakenly bought this video instead. This video is 50 minutes about students from Brigham Young University trying various high-tech stuff at the Qumran archeological site. Analyzing the jars, and discovering that the clay came from the area where the jars were found. Gee, wow. This tape is boring. There is nothing on this video about what the Dead Sea Scrolls say.
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Review by Thomas David Kehoe...