© John C. Trever, Ph.D./Digital image by James E. Trever

Among four scrolls purchased in an undercover operation led by Yigael Yadin in 1954, the 23.5-foot Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsaa)—the most famous of the Dead Sea Scrolls—dates to 100 B.C.E., making it the oldest and best-preserved copy of those 66 chapters of the Hebrew Bible.