Hi Boston,
As one of our venerable leaders (above) has mentioned, it is difficult to provide comprehensive answers to such open-ended questions. The information you have requested here can and has filled volumes.
However,
very briefly , (and this is just off the top of my head, so I hope other posters will correct any errors), the dead sea scrolls were found (IIRC, back around the 1940's) in a place called Qhirbet Qumran, it is located east of Jerusalem near (big surprise) the dead sea.
The scrolls were hidden or stored away in various caves throughout this area. It was originally thought that they were placed there by a religious sect called the Essenes (who from various descriptions in other writings, Josephus etc.) were thought to have a settlement in this area. This contention has since been brought into dispute and it is still uncertain just who the scroll authors were.
IIRC, the majority of the scrolls were written on parchment (cured & cleaned animal hides) and are thought to have been written over a period of time ranging from
roughly , the early 1st century B.C. to c. 50 A.D. With the exception of a very few more complete pieces (the Isaiah scroll, for instance), the majority of the scrolls exist in small pieces (fragments) and it has been a long and painstaking process to reassemble these pieces into their component parts in order to reproduce any large portions of the original writings. Most of these writings are in some form of the Hebrew language, but there are a few fragments written in Greek.
Fragments of virtually all of the books of the Hebrew bible (IIRC, the book of Esther and perhaps one other, Ruth?, are not included) have been found in these caves, though in many cases there are only a few fragments so that we only have a few lines out of the entire book. Of the biblical books that we have been able to more completely assemble, some are extremely similar to the text of the HB (Hebrew bible) that we have today. Others have parts and verses that are not found in our modern bible or, conversely, lack certain phrases and verses that only appear in our later texts. Some agree (in wording) more closely with a Greek translation of the bible called the septuagint(LXX), which, (while we don't have any of the first copies), is thought to have been translated around 300 - 250 B.C. Note: this date is actually only assigned to the first 5 books of the bible (called the pentateuch or torah) while the remaining books are thought to have been translated over later periods.
In addition to the books of the bible, many of the scroll writings are extra-biblical writings which resemble (or, in some cases, are attributed to) biblical personages; these are called "pseudo-" writings (for instance a writing which resembled or was attributed to Isaiah, but is not found in the modern bible (canon) would be called "pseudo-Isaiah". Further, some of the scrolls are "commentaries" on the biblical books. In some cases these commentaries interpret the passages of the HB in such a way as to see them as prophetic references and instructions pertaining to the very time and circumstances in which the scroll authors lived (this type of interpretation is called either "exegesis" {reading out of} of eisegesis {reading into}). Further still, many of the scrolls are writings completely different than any of the books of the bible. They are extremely interesting to read and reveal to us that the authors of these texts referred to themselves as the "sons of light" and that they were convinced that they were in a struggle against the "sons of darkness" and that they would soon be involved in an eschatological (or end times) war in which, with divine assistance, they would be victorious.
The significance of the scrolls covers many areas. For one, they provide us with insight into the type and style of writing that was contemporary to the period (paleography). For another, they are the earliest actual existing (or extant) writings of the bible. As such they provide us with a great deal of information regarding any changes that may have been made to these books over time. They also provide us with a great deal of insight into the cultural, political and religious (especially messianic) situation and expectations affecting the Jewish people in the period immediately preceding the alleged events recorded in the NT (new testament).
Also, if it wasn't made clear earlier, there are (as far as we know) no NT writings found in the scroll collection. It has been asserted that a small fragment catalogued as "7Q5" is a piece of the gospel of Mark. There are only about 20 letters (at most) on this fragment and only about 10 of them are positively indentifiable. These 10 exist in 4 or 5 portions of preserved lines (with a few letters in each line). I have looked fairly closely at facsimiles of this fragment and have read the arguments from both sides and my (less than expert) opinion is that this contention is a long way from conclusive. If this fragment is indeed a small piece from the Markan gospel, then this would mean that Mark could have been written as early as 50 A.D. However, as this dating is not exact, it could also simply mean that Mark was written in, say, the 60's A.D., a date which would not necessarily be highly disputed for some original form of Mark already. One of the major obstacles to this being a fragment of Mark (to my thinking) is that the overall doctrine (interpretation and exegesis of the bible books) in the other scrolls found in the caves around Qumran is completely at odds with the doctrine presented in Mark (or any of the NT writings for that matter).
As mentioned, this is simply a brief overview (and straight off the cuff, so I hope other posters will correct any errors). Still, I hope that it provides you with some of the information you were looking for.
As was also suggested to you, if you do a google search, you will not only find quite a bit of information on the web, but even better, you will be informed about available books and publications that deal with the subject in a more indepth and scholarly manner.
Namaste'
Amlodhi
[This message has been edited by Amlodhi, 03-14-2004]
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