Around 70 years after the birth of Jesus Christ, a collection of over 900 scrolls containing Biblical texts and other manuscripts was hidden in caves in the Judean desert bordering the Dead Sea.

Although many were just fragments, the scrolls' discovery nearly 2,000 years later was dubbed the ‘archaeological find of the century’ and sent shockwaves through the world of Biblical scholarship. Who wrote them? Why were they hidden? And what light, if any, do they shed on the turbulent history of the Holy Land and its peoples?

In 1947, the first of an eventual haul of over 900 scrolls was found by chance in desert caves. Written in Hebrew and Aramaic and over 2,000 years old, they include the earliest known versions of most of the Old Testament and mysterious writings by a group calling themselves 'Sons of Light'. Why were the scrolls put there? Who wrote them? And what do they have to tell us?

Drawing on more than half a century of painstaking research, this absorbing film takes us one step closer to the truth behind one of the most enigmatic mysteries in the history of ancient civilizations.

This DVD is accompanied by a beautifully illustrated 24-page hardcover book. Watch and discover the secrets of cultures that thrived for centuries and then disappeared, and at the same time read the captivating book packed with intriguing facts, illustrations, photography and more.

Produced by Bo Landin and Sterling Van Wagenen for Scandinature Films and Discovery Channel (1998).