1/2 Sheqel Qumran

Issued to mark the thirtieth anniversary of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, first found by a Bedouin shepherd in the caves above Qumran in 1947. The scrolls' initial identification as ancient rather than medieval — confirmed largely through paleographic analysis and later carbon dating — set off one of the most contentious archaeological acquisition battles of the twentieth century, with fragments ending up scattered across private dealers before the Israeli government consolidated the collection at the Shrine of the Book.