A site near the Dead Sea in Israel where the first Dead Sea Scrolls were found, leading to excavation of the headquarters of a religious community and of a large cemetery at Khirbet Qumran, both of Greco-Roman period. The Essenes, a Jewish sect living there from c 1st century BC to the 1st century AD left their religious writings in caves during the time when the Romans put down the Jewish Revolt. Discovered in 1947, the scrolls are dated to the last two centuries BC and 1st century AD.